NZ Should Help Desperate Journalists Get Out Of Gaza

New Zealand must do what it can to help get desperate journalists out of Gaza before they are killed, according to the Journalism Education Association of New Zealand (JEANZ).

“A few days ago there was a gut-wrenching email in my inbox from Abdullah Miqdad, a journalist hoping to escape the war zone,” said JEANZ president Greg Treadwell.

Miqdad’s email said he was working every day with “danger, deep trauma, and extreme exhaustion”.

“For nearly two years, I’ve reported tirelessly with no real rest, no safety, and on many days, no food. What once felt like a duty has now become a battle for survival.”

The New Zealand Government should do what it can to facilitate the evacuation of journalists whose lives are in immediate danger and who want to get out, Treadwell said.

“We need to show our commitment to the international laws of war, which say journalists must be protected, as must civilians.

“As we can see, civilians are in no real way being protected in this horrific war.

“Where New Zealand is able to help is to offer protection to journalists at risk of death for doing their job.”

JEANZ life member Cathy Strong said it was not new for warring countries to ignore their duties to the safety of journalists.

“Ten years ago the Middle East editor for CNN told me they no longer let their journalism teams wear anything that identifies them as journalists because that means they would be the first to get shot.”

She said even rebel forces no longer protected journalists because they now preferred to use social media to “broadcast their own slanted narrative” of the war.

Treadwell said proactively helping when journalists appealed for help to evacuate from immediate danger would be in line with New Zealand’s obligations under the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists.

“We have media freedoms in this country many others can only dream of. We should insist the safety of journalists who are not participating in a conflict must be a bottom line globally.

“It’s in Article 79 of the Geneva Convention and we must make it clear this is not negotiable.”

One recent report says more than 270 news workers have been killed since Israel launched its attack in response to the Hamas raid on October 7, 2023.

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