Rafah on Jan. 10, 2024. AFP via Getty Images Press freedom group The Committee to Protect Journalists is reviewing how it identifies and records journalists killed in war zones.
The move follows the CPJ wrongly naming combatants as slain reporters in its database for the Israel–Gaza war after the militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries unmasking as fighters individuals previously listed as journalists. Members of the media, and especially war correspondents, are protected in war zones by international law if they do not actively engage in hostilities.
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“CPJ has always been clear that we do not include anyone in our data sets if there is evidence that they were engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence. This is consistent with international humanitarian law, which considers journalists affiliated with non-state actors to be civilians, provided they do not directly participate in hostilities,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.
With the published obituaries, the press freedom group said Hamas and PIJ had admitted some of its fighters previously designated as “journalists” killed in the Gaza war zone had in fact been combatants. As a result, the CPJ removed eight names from its casualty database for Gaza because they had “participated in combat.”
An additional 12 individuals were removed from CPJ’s casualties page because investigations indicated either they had not after all been journalists, had not died while on assignment as a journalist or media worker, or had survived an attack after being reported as missing. As of June 25, the CPJ said its tally of journalists or media workers killed by Israel in Gaza and in Israeli detention centers since Oct. 7, 2023, stood at 209 individuals.
Ginsberg said the review, expected to conclude in July, will assess all remaining names on its “killed” journalists lists to confirm they were not in combat at the time of their deaths. The goal is to protect journalists and media workers active in war zones.
“CPJ condemns in no uncertain terms the misrepresentation of combatants as journalists or media workers, or the misuse of ‘Press’ insignia. Such actions endanger every single individual journalist legitimately trying to report,” Ginsberg added.
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