Nearly 1,000 journalists from around the world have signed a new petition calling for an end to Israel’s “information blackout” banning international reporting from Gaza.
At time of writing the petition has 847 signatures including high-profile names such as Christiane Amanpour, Clarissa Ward and Anderson Cooper from CNN, Alex Crawford of Sky News, photojournalist Sir Don McCullin and John Simpson of the BBC.
The petition states: “Nearly 200 journalists, overwhelmingly Palestinian, have been killed while reporting from Gaza. Meanwhile, foreign journalists remain barred from entering the territory, blocked by Israeli-imposed restrictions that silence independent observation. This is not just a humanitarian blackout, it is an information blackout that undermines the public’s right to know and journalism’s democratic function to hold power accountable.”
The new campaign has been organised by André Liohn, a photojournalist from Brazil who has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and was awarded the Robert Cappa Gold Medal for his coverage of the war in Libya in 2011.
He told Press Gazette: “We are just demanding our right to do the work that we are meant to do, that’s it.
“It’s exactly the same: doctors are asking for the right to be doctors, nurses, nurses, teachers, for the right to be teachers. This is not activism.”
He said of the peitition signatories: “They are professionals from all over the world. We have today, over 40 countries that have signed the petition. We have a diversity of continents. We have Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, North America. The entire world is asking for this because it’s obvious.”
Liohn added: “I know that in some very big news organisations, they have been debating it, and some have decided not to allow their journalists to sign it.”
“It’s very easy for us to say Netanyahu is stopping us from covering but at the end of the day, we know that we have internal limitations as well, and we are not doing anything to address this, these limitations. I invited journalists to rebel against that.”
“We have to stay united. And one thing that this petition is giving us is the legitimacy to act together, to act united, to make a demand that is not one single voice but is an entire profession.”
An open letter accompanying the petition states: “If the belligerent parties ignore our appeal, the undersigned journalists affirm their support for professional media colleagues who, by any legitimate means, independently, collectively, or in coordination with humanitarian or civil society actors, choose to enter Gaza without the consent of the parties involved”
Liohn said: “I think we have to change our mindset. We must not just wait for authorisation at some point. At some point we must take initiative, to say if authorisation is not granted, it ust be conquered, because that’s how we have done before.”
The petition comes as a group of 16 press freedom organisations signed a joint letter warning that journalists are now being starved to death in Gaza.
It states: “One in three people in Gaza now goes days without food. Among the starving are journalists, the last independent voices still reporting from inside Gaza. These are the individuals whose courage keeps the world informed of the sheer humanitarian impact of Israel’s war on Gaza. Now, they are being forced die from hunger.
“This is not incidental. This is a tactic. The suffering of journalists is not an accident; Israel is employing deliberate tactics to silence the truth by starving them.”
The letter adds: “Their situation is dire and worsening day by day. Without immediate intervention by the international community, their lives are under serious threat, and they may not be able to continue reporting; their voices may fall silent.”
Writing for Press Gazette in June, Sky News managing director Jonathan Levy said: “The ongoing denial of access to Gaza feels much less about the safety of journalists and more about preventing proper scrutiny and accountability of the desperate situation there.”
In May, a group of 17 leading Jewish journalists, including Emily Maitlis and Robert Peston, signed an open letter stating: “It is time for Israel and Egypt to stop using the pretext of battlefield security to prevent the world’s leading war reporters and foreign correspondents to be in situ to cover events.”
Yousef Hammash, who won a British Journalism Awards prize for his reporting from Gaza, said in December 2024: “International journalists need to stand ahead their responsibility and report and bear witness there because journalists in Gaza need and deserve a break. It’s as simple as that. And on the personal side, I want a break. You should go there, give me and my team a break.”
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