For potentially the first time in modern history, over 200 media outlets across the globe participated in a large-scale editorial protest for Gaza on Monday.
The Global Media Blackout was coordinated by Reporters without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the campaign movement Avaaz.
As part of the blackout protest, print newspapers will run blacked-out front pages, broadcasters and radio stations will pause programming with a joint statement and online outlets will black out their homepages or banners in solidarity.
The joint led campaign gave print publications four options: an entirely black front page with unified message, entirely black front page without unified message, a partially black page or a black masthead. For online publications, ISJ, RSF and Avaaz suggested a black banner with or without a unified message.
For broadcasters, the following message on a black TV screen or spoken over a metronome sound was encouraged: “At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed. In nearly 23 months, at least 210 journalists have been killed by the Israeli army in this territory, according to Reporters Without Borders. We, and more than 150 other media outlets across the world, condemn these crimes. And we call on the Israeli authorities to allow independent access for the international press in the Gaza Strip.”
Thibaut Bruttin, RSF Director General said, “At the rate at which journalists are being killed in Gaza by the IDF, soon there will be no one left to keep the world informed."
"This is not only a war on Gaza, it is a war on journalism itself. Journalists are being killed, they are being targeted, they are being defamed. Without them, who will speak of famine, who will expose war crimes, who will denounce genocides."
"The solidarity of news media and journalists around the world is essential. They must be thanked: it is the fraternity of reporters that will save press freedom, the fraternity that will save freedom.”
“It is very clear that Gaza is being turned into a graveyard for journalists for a reason," said Andrew Legon, Campaign Director at Avaaz. "Israel’s far-right government is trying to finish the job in the dark, without the scrutiny of the press."
Anthony Bellanger, IFJ General Secretary added, "Every journalist killed in Gaza was someone’s colleague, friend, or family. We demand justice and a UN International Convention on the safety and independence of journalists."
The full list of publications involved in the blackout can be found here. It involves 50 countries, and features well-known outlets such as El Diario, La Vanguardia and El Pais in Spain, Taz in Germany, Il Fatto Quotidiano in Italy and The Independent in the UK.
Highlighting bias against Israel in the media
Israel's foreign ministry responded by saying that when "media outlets choose in a synchronized manner to stop reporting news, to throw values of the press and plurality of opinions into the trash, and instead publish a uniform, pre-scripted political manifesto against Israel, that tells you how great the bias against Israel is in the global media."
"The reports we see in the global media regarding Gaza do not tell the real story there. They tell the campaign of lies that Hamas spreads."
"This is not journalism. This is politics," the ministry added.