By Ranjona Banerji
How powerful is Israel?
More than you might imagine.
Especially when it comes to the media. Close to 80 journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 7, 2023 and to this day, large sections of the western media are unable to show solidarity with their murdered colleagues, forget calling Israel to account.
In safer areas, which are not under gunfire, genocide and assault, journalists in the West and in predominantly white countries like Australia are under immense pressure. Because their employers, media houses themselves, are being forced to silence all voices which question Israel and its policies in relation to Palestinians, Gaza and the West Bank.
Popular news anchors and hosts like MSNBC’s Medhi Hasan have quit after their shows were taken away from them.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that pro-Israel lobbyists forced the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to sack its Australian-Lebanese TV anchor, Antoinette Lattouf.
Nour Haydar, a political reporter with ABC, has resigned because of her organisation’s stance on Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
This is the statement issued by The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, “the union and industry advocate for Australia’s creative professionals”:
“It’s time to make a stand for the truth and for journalism without fear or favour. The public’s right to know is diminished when journalists are unable to provide factual information accurately, fairly and transparently because they fear retribution from their employers to appease external critics.
Right now in Australia, truth-telling and journalism without or favour is being compromised by media bosses punishing journalists for daring to discuss the issues of our times: human rights, climate change, the war in Gaza.
This has a chilling effect on other journalists that they too may be punished for stepping out of line, forcing them to compromise on their duty to the public to report the truth without fear or favour.”
These are just a few small examples. But they are significant because these sovereign nations, which lecture the world on democracy and the importance of the freedom of the press, who have succumbed to pressure not necessarily from within but from an outside force as well. Such is the hold of Israel that it can force these media houses and nations to toe its own line so it is free with its genocidal policies and tactics.
There are several antisemitic reasons thrown around for this behaviour, and these are unconscionable. The onus lies not on the Zionist state of Israel but rather on the great powers of the West which assume they provide a beacon to the rest of the beleaguered world. But what we see in fact is that they are no different from the rest of us when the pressure comes from a force which they cannot withstand.
In fact, what we know is that it is not incumbent upon any of us to only follow the diktats of our own religion or community. We as journalists especially owe our allegiance to our Constitutions and our citizens. Which Constitution states that the belief system of the state of Israel is paramount? After all, there are few Israeli journalists who question their own government. Why then must a journalist in the USA or Australia have to bend low before Israel’s policies?
The past few years in India have demonstrated over and over again what how dangerous it is when the media follows the majoritarian route. The collapse of almost all Indian systems, from Manipur to the economy to health, education, infrastructure, manufacture and more have all been eclipsed by the worship of one man and next week, as we shall see, in inauguration of an incomplete temple which rests on the foundation of a nation-state lost to Hindu supremacy.
That the 21st century would see democracy bowing low before religion is not something anyone would have foreseen.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal.