Welcome to this week’s Media Watch!
UK media outlets spend most of their time competing to set the agenda and be the first to key news lines.
But there are moments where it is necessary for journalists to stand together, in defence of our profession and in solidarity with our colleagues across the globe.
This is what happened today amid the intolerable actions of Israel in Gaza. More than 200 media outlets across the world joined forces to demand an end to the killing of journalists in the enclave and for the international press to be allowed access.
Print newspapers have run blacked-out front pages carrying a stark message: "At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed."
It is high time this happened. We at The National have been reporting on the horrific killing of journalists for many months now, as well as the unprecedented situation of Israel refusing to grant reporters outside of Gaza independent access to the territory.
It is reassuring that outlets such as The Independent and Byline Times are making a stand against this direct attack on press freedom.
However, there are countless UK outlets that have not joined with this co-ordinated action headed up by Reporters Without Borders.
The National is the only newspaper in Scotland to print the statement, which appeared on our front page on Monday.
Alongside The Independent and Byline Times, only the Muwatin Media Network, The New Arab and Alaraby Aljadeed signed up to be part of the action in the UK.
Whatever an outlet’s political stance, however reluctant an outlet has been so far to call out the utterly appalling atrocities happening in Gaza, it is difficult to understand why newspapers and broadcasters would choose not to call out the senseless killing of journalists. Where is the humanity?
However distant you might feel from what is happening in Gaza, these are your people. This is a threat to your profession, which you are choosing to ignore. How can you not feel you have a responsibility to speak up?
The death toll of journalists in Gaza has climbed to more than 210 since October 7, 2023 – the deadliest conflict for reporters in modern times.
Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, added: "Every journalist killed in Gaza was someone’s colleague, friend, or family. They risked everything to tell the world the truth, and they paid with their lives. The public's right to know has been deeply damaged as a result of this war.”
It is good to see more media outlets refusing to tolerate what is happening, but quite frankly this is coming far too late and progress is too slow.
We will keep calling out such horrendous acts of violence and we hope, while Israel appears intent on continuing with war crimes and genocide, that others will eventually join us.
