Together with members of the Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG) of Pietermaritzburg, I was fortunate to participate in a panel discussion with Al Jazeera journalist Youmna El-Sayed about what is it like being a journalist living in and covering the mass humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
According to El-Sayed, who visited Pietermaritzburg, last week, the genocide unfolding in Gaza caused by apartheid Israel is different from previous brutal attacks on Palestinians as journalists are being targeted from the very first day.
Covering stories from the front lines, reporters face huge challenges to report on lived realities in war zones. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 116 media workers were among the thousands killed since apartheid Israel’s attack on Gaza began, making it the deadliest period for journalists.
While driving El-Sayed to different venues, I was also privileged to have quality conversations with her. El-Sayed expressed a passion to convey real and factual stories and to collect testimonies, with a moral obligation to report truthfully and to dispel disinformation.
She says a distinctive component of the Israeli regime is to disseminate misinformation to cloud the narrative. Israeli hired trolls use fake news and propaganda to confuse people across the globe about what is actually occurring in occupied Palestine.
El-Sayed says thanks to social media, technology and ethical media houses, the disinformation campaign of apartheid Israel and Western countries is being challenged.
Mohamed Saeed | Pietermaritzburg
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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