More than 100 journalists, photographers, and war correspondents have signed a petition demanding “immediate and unsupervised foreign press access to the Gaza Strip”. The petition is backed by the Freedom To Report initiative, started by award-winning photographer Andre Liohn, and includes signatures from leading journalists such as Sky News’ Alex Crawford, broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and Clarissa Ward, and iconic war photographer Don McCullin.
The signatories are renewing calls for both Israel and Hamas to allow foreign journalists into Gaza to report independently on the war, a right that has been restricted since the start of the latest conflict in 2023. The petition further asserts that if “belligerent parties” ignore this appeal, media professionals will find alternative means to enter Gaza independently or with the help of humanitarian or civil society actors.
The petition emphasizes that unrestricted, independent access for foreign journalists is needed not only to document the war but to ensure that its truth is not controlled by those with power. It calls for press access in Gaza to be defended as a part of the broader defense of press freedom worldwide. Sky News and other global news organizations have had to rely on Palestinian journalists, local reporters, and humanitarian workers to provide information about the situation in Gaza, where nearly 200 journalists have been killed, making the conflict the deadliest for the press. The petition also calls for respecting journalists’ protected status under international law and for support from governments and press freedom organizations.
Source: https://news.sky.com/story/over-100-journalists-demand-immediate-and-unsupervised-foreign-media-access-into-gaza-13406107
