Tag: Palestinian Women Journalists

PALESTINIAN journalist Bisan Owda and AJ+ win Emmy for Gaza war documentary

The award comes after a pro-Israel nonprofit organisation criticised the nomination of the short film documenting the initial days of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda and Al Jazeera’s AJ+ have won an Emmy in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story category for their documentary, It’s Bisan From Gaza – and I’m Still Alive.

Owda has been at the forefront of reporting from Gaza since Israel launched its assault on the territory last October, bringing the stories of Palestinians to a global audience amidst 11 months of war and devastation.

“This award is a testament to young Palestinian journalists and their professionalism. Bisan’s reporting has humanised the Palestinian story after decades of mainstream media’s systematic dehumanisation of Palestinians. Winning this Emmy is a win for humanity. We feel extremely proud of this bright moment amidst ongoing genocide, and Bisan will continue reporting,” Dima Khatib, Managing Director of AJ+ Channels, said on Thursday.

The award came a month after Creative Community for Peace, a pro-Israel nonprofit organisation, issued a letter criticising the nomination of the 25-year-old’s short film documenting the initial days of Israeli bombardment and its devastating impact on everyday people in the Gaza Strip.

The letter alleged Owda was affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which she has denied. The PFLP is a left-wing Palestinian political movement, and is designated a “terrorist organisation” by several Western countries, including the United States.

In August, Adam Sharp, the president and chief executive of the National Academy of Television and Arts and Sciences (NATAS), defended the nomination, saying that two panels, including experienced journalists, had made the decision and that the academy had not found any evidence that Owda was affiliated with the PFLP.

He said that past nominees had “been controversial, giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent”, but they were honoured “in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story”.

At the time, Al Jazeera issued a statement, saying it stood with Owda “in the face of efforts to silence her reporting from Gaza”.

The media group described Owda as a “renowned journalist and influencer” who “has significantly contributed to bringing news from Gaza to the world with her unique style”.

Al Jazeera said the allegations were “baseless” and “an attempt to silence Bisan and present a real threat to her safety on the ground”.

“The call for the Emmy nomination to be rescinded is nothing more than an attempt to deny an important perspective to the global audience on the war and its devastating impact on innocent civilians,” the statement read.

In the past 11 months, more than 130 journalists, including three from Al Jazeera, have been killed by Israeli forces, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Other media rights groups have different numbers based on their own criteria, however, the Government Media Office in Gaza count of the number of dead journalists and media workers is 173.

“We urge the international journalistic community to support Bisan and other media professionals, ensuring they can carry out their essential work without fear of being targeted, intimidated or killed,” Al Jazeera’s statement said.

In May, Owda and AJ+ also won a Peabody Award for coverage of the devastating impact Israel’s war on Gaza has had on Palestinians in the besieged enclave.

Additionally, Al Jazeera English’s Fault Lines received the News Emmy for Outstanding Climate, Environment, and Weather Coverage for its film “Shark Fin Hunters,” which exposes wildlife trafficking that poses enormous risks for the future of the oceans.

“We are delighted and honoured to win this prestigious award,” said Issa Ali, Acting Managing Director of Al Jazeera English. “The great journalism that we do, and that done by our colleagues in other media organisations, is more important than ever in today’s world. This award is a wonderful recognition of the talent, dedication, and hard work of our teams.”

source/content: aljazeera.com (headline edited)

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source: youtube.com / ‘It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive’

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PALESTINE

PALESTINE: MEE Gaza journalist Maha Hussaini Wins ‘Courage in Journalism Award’ by the Washington based International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)

Recognition from the International Women’s Media Foundation honours Palestinian reporter’s ‘remarkable bravery in the pursuit of reporting’.

Palestinian freelance journalist Maha Hussaini has had her reporting for Middle East Eye on the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza recognised by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF).

Hussaini was one of three recipients of the Courage in Journalism Awards , announced by the Washington-based foundation on Monday, which it says honours remarkable bravery in the pursuit of reporting.

Since the assault began in October, Hussaini has published dozens of stories, including a report uncovering Israeli field executions of Palestinians , which was used as evidence by South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the case accusing Israel of genocide.

Reacting to the award, Hussaini told MEE she was both happy and sad at recognition for her work. 

“I am happy because it is another effort to recognise the work of Palestinian journalists and make them heard and seen,” she said. “But I am saddened because I know the cost of such recognition in a place where over 150 journalists have been killed over the course of eight months.”

The IWMF recognised Hussaini, who was a resident of Gaza City before the war, for working under strenuous circumstances during the conflict. 

The Israeli attacks have posed daily threats to her life, forced her to move location multiple times and to live in desperate conditions, along with almost all of Gaza’s 2.3m Palestinian population. 

At times Hussaini has been forced to work without access to electricity and internet during Israeli-imposed power outages. Her freedom of movement within Gaza, including access to her home, has also been restricted by the Israeli siege and checkpoints.

“Since the beginning of the Israeli war, it has become increasingly clear to me that journalists are targets for the Israeli army. Many of the journalists who have been killed while reporting were colleagues with whom I closely collaborated,” Hussaini told MEE.

She said that each morning she faced the possibility that she could be killed next, and quietly recited the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith often pronounced before death, each time she went out to report. 

“I understand that my work carries immense risks, but I cannot say that I’m scared to be a journalist,” Hussaini added. “I have never felt hesitant to go to the field or cover any story. But I however worry that if I am killed, another voice would be silenced, another pen would be broken.”

Hussaini said she hoped that by winning the award, light would be shed on the work done by Palestinian journalists, especially when “many international media outlets choose to overlook their stories and reporting”.

She added that it was particularly important now as Israel bans international journalists from entering Gaza.

‘We need women’s voices in news media’

Hussaini won the award alongside Lauren Chooljian, a senior reporter and producer at American radio NHPR, and Monica Velásquez Villacís, an investigative journalist and presenter at Ecuadorian digital media outlet La Posta . 

“We need women’s voices in news media to keep the press free and we need to fiercely protect women like Lauren, Maha, Mónica, and Shin to ensure that power is held to account and that equitable values survive,” said IWMF Executive Director Elisa Lees Munoz. 

David Hearst, MEE’s Editor in Chief, said: “To live under conditions where there is no safe haven from drones and missiles for eight months is unbearable.

“But to report under conditions where you as a journalist are deliberately targeted, and where you witness your colleagues being killed, is a feat few other journalists can imagine. Maha deserves the highest award for her work.”

Lubna Masarwa, MEE’s Palestine and Israel bureau chief, said no words can describe how much Hussaini deserves recognition. 

“Despite everything she endured – the bombs, displacement, and seeing her colleagues killed – Maha has remained resilient, professional and true to her mission of giving a voice to the Palestinian people,” Masarwa said.

The Israeli military has killed at least 150 journalists out of an estimated 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza since 7 October, according to local officials. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported that it has been the deadliest period for journalists since the NGO began gathering data in 1992.

“It’s wonderful seeing Maha’s work, and by extension, that of Palestinian journalists in Gaza, being recognised by the world,” Masarwa added. 

“But truly no amount of awards and words can begin to express how much she deserves recognition.” 

Among Hussaini’s stories recognised by the IWMF is a report on the reality of women giving birth at home in Gaza and another featuring a girl who had to carry her paralysed six-year old brother for miles while fleeing bombing.

Hussaini’s decade as reporter

Hussaini began work as a freelance journalist in July 2014 during the Israeli offensive on Gaza, producing, preparing, and presenting reports on the conflict that resulted in the deaths of more than 2,200 Palestinians and around 60 Israelis. 

She has been writing for MEE since 2018 and has covered hundreds of stories focusing on human rights and armed conflict.

In 2020, she won the Martin Adler Prize , awarded by the prestigious Rory Peck Trust, for her reporting for MEE from Gaza.

She was shortlisted for the 2023 Local Reporter Award granted by the Kurt Schork Memorial Fund.  
 
Hussaini also works as the strategy director of the Geneva-based Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor .

IWMF’a Courage in Journalism Awards is given annually to women journalists who “are not going to step aside, cannot be silenced, and deserve to be recognised for their strength in the face of adversity”. 

Shireen Abu Akleh, a renowned Palestinian-American journalist, posthumously won the award in 2023 after being shot and killed by Israeli forces a year earlier.

source/content: middleeasteye.net (headline edited)

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Maha Hussaini (L) interviewing a Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip in June 2023 (Supplied/Mahmoud Mushtaha)

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PALESTINE