Princess Basma: Professional, ethical media key to reveal truth in Gaza, Palestine

HRH Princess Basma bint Talal, Honorary Chairperson of the Arab Media Women's Centre (AMWC), on Monday stressed the media's role and the professional and ethical responsibility of mediapeople in revealing the truth in Gaza and Palestine to fend off misleading information and confusion. The events and crimes in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank over a whole year were enough to reveal the deliberate misleading by many mainstream international media outlets, as they shunned neutrality, objectivity and professionalism in their coverage, Princess Basma said in remarks at the AMWC 19th conference, held under the slogan "Knights of Truth". These outlets, she added, blinked at the fact that there is an occupied land and a people who were displaced from their land and attempts to obliterate their identity and liquidate their just cause. Her Highness praised journalists from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, who became a reliable source to convey the truth in audio and image and from under the rubble and debris, and expose the suffering of the Palestinian people and the genocide and multi-faceted punishment they are subjected to. Princess Basma highlighted the sacrifices of Palestinian journalists to pursue their work with all available means, and not give in to restrictions and targeting, citing repeated warnings by Reporters Without Borders of a lack of seriousness on the part of the international community to protect journalists, noting the organization had labeled the Palestinian territories as one of the bloodiest regions for journalists in the world. For her part, AMWC director Mahasen El Imam, said the conference coincided with the first anniversary of the devastating Israeli war on Gaza and the West Bank, the ongoing denial and violations of the very basic rights of the Palestinian people, and the genocide, displacement, starvation, killing of women, children and media professionals in Gaza, as well as the destruction of homes, service facilities and infrastructure in a ferocious war that is being waged with de nial of international laws and humanitarian conventions. During the conference a film, titled "Survivors from Ashes", was screened on the suffering, systematic killing and displacement of the people of Gaza during the war. The two-day gathering will tackle working papers on international conventions on the freedom of journalists in conflict zones, challenges to media campaigns, the use of media to spread rumors and false reports, among others. Source: Jordan News Agency