MEAA backs journalists calling for ‘ethical’ reporting on Israel-Gaza war
The MEAA (media, entertainment and arts alliance) has called for the protection of journalists who have signed an open-letter petitioning newsrooms to cover the events in Israel and Palestine with “integrity, transparency and rigour”.
The letter, which has been signed by 273 journalists and media bodies since its publication on Friday, stressed the risks of “both-sideism”, warning that the “disproportionate human suffering of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza should not be minimised”. The petition outlines seven steps for Australian newsrooms to improve coverage, with signatories from across the ABC, the Guardian, Schwartz Media, The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and others publications.
The union’s National Media Section opted to sign the letter as a collective in a bid to support union member’s rights to “stand for ethical, accurate journalism in the public interest”, as major news networks issue warnings to journalists who put their name to the document.
The union’s house committees at the ABC and the Guardian followed suit, while votes to endorse the to letter at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are understood to have failed, according to reports from The Australian.
“We stand in solidarity with our members who are Jewish and Muslim”, the MEAA wrote in an email sent to union members.
“Journalists must be protected to stand up for the Journalist Code of Ethics. Any pressure from editorial managers to prevent workers from doing this, including removing them from relevant stories, is an overreach attack on both journalists’ rights and the public’s right to know.”
“Employers must also provide workers with safe working environments, and support and protect staff and freelance journalists who face harassment, violence and discrimination.”
The MEAA has called for the protection of journalists who have signed an open-letter petitioning newsrooms to cover the events in Israel and Palestine with “integrity, transparency and rigour”.
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The statement of support comes in response to crackdowns from editorial management at some of the country’s biggest newsrooms, including Nine Entertainment’s Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and the ABC.
A slack message sent by executive editor at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Tory McGuire, has circulated widely online, warning editorial staff that signatories to the letter “would be unable to participate in any reporting or production relating to the war”.
The full message sent to news staff read:
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age hold a very significant place in Australian society because of the mastheads’ reputations for independent journalism and reporting bound by the highest standards of impartiality. It is a strongly-held tenet that our journalists’ personal agendas do not influence our reporting of news events. This applies across the board, including to our coverage of the current war in Israel and Gaza. We’re very proud of our coverage, which continues to abide by the highest standards of ethical journalism. Any newsroom staff who signed this latest industry open letter will be unable to participate in any reporting or production relating to the war. We will continue to uphold the mastheads’ social media policy. This will have no impact on our capacity to continue to provide extensive, quality journalism on this topic.
– Tory Maguire (Executive Editor), Patrick Elligett (The Age editor), Bevan Shields (SMH editor), David King (National Editor)
Nine Entertainment declined to comment further on the matter.
An email sent by ABC news director Justin Stevens has also done the rounds online, reminding journalists to abstain from signing “any petition that may bring into question your impartiality or that of the ABC’s coverage”.
“Signing this petition may bring into question your ability to cover the story impartially,” he wrote. “As I have said several times recently, maintaining trust and credibility as an ABC staff member means you forgo the opportunity to share your opinions about stories which you report or may be involved in.”
While the ABC declined to comment on the email, it has been outwardly defensive of its coverage of the conflict in face of scrutiny from some of its editorial staff.
Nine days after a group of ABC journalists raised concerns over the coverage in an internal meeting, managing director David Anderson publicly addressed the debate on the terms of impartiality.
Speaking at the the ABC Friends Victoria annual dinner in Melbourne on Friday 17 November, he said “impartiality does not require that every perspective receives equal time, nor that every facet of every argument is presented”.
Anderson pointed instead to the role of interviewers to challenge and question statements by actors on either side of the conflict, when appropriate.
While I acknowledge the right of the journalist to have there own opinions, views and beliefs.
As a reader I have the right to know if the journalist is an activists, the minimum decency when a journalist report or participate in preparing a report they need to declare they signed on such a letter.
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