Princess Basma urges media to uphold truth in reporting on Gaza, Palestine

AMMAN — HRH Princess Basma on Monday stressed the important role of the media in conveying true and transparent information regarding what is happening in the Gaza Strip.

“The media in all its forms bears a professional and ethical responsibility in conveying what is happening on the ground in Gaza and Palestine since it is the real guarantor of preventing misleading and confusion among the receiving audience,” Princess Basma said.

Princess Basma, the honorary chairperson of the Arab Women Media Centre (AWMC), was speaking at the opening ceremony of AWMC’s 19th conference held at the Regency Hotel in Amman under the slogan “Knights of Truth”.

During her speech, the Princess said that the events the Gaza Strip and the West Bank witnessed this past year and the crimes and practices that accompanied them, “were enough to reveal the truth of the deception that many major international media outlets practised deliberately”.

The international media outlets “deviated their coverage from neutrality, objectivity and professionalism while at the same time forgetting that there is an occupied land and people who were displaced from their land with attempts to erase their identity and liquidate their just cause,” Princess Basma added.

The Princess praised the role journalists in the Gaza Strip and West Bank are playing in conveying the truth.

“Journalists became a reliable source by reporting on the voice and image of the rubbles and the suffering of the Palestinian people because of the collective punishment and genocide they are subjected to,” Princess Basma told the gathering.

These journalists' greatest challenge in the unequal confrontation with the biased [international] media is a fateful battle with its greatest challenge being to preserve the true and realistic Palestinian narrative and protect it from falsification and distortion, Princess Basma added.

The Princess praised the sacrifices the Palestinian journalists are providing to do their work with the simplest available means and resources.

Also addressing the gathering was AWMC President Mahasen Imam said the conference comes following one year of the Israeli destructive war on Gaza and the West Bank.

“This event is an important occasion to acknowledge the efforts of the Palestinian journalists in conveying to us and the world the pain, suffering, killing and displacement,” Imam told the gathering.

The two-day conference will discuss several working papers including topics related to international conventions and freedom of journalists in conflict zones and contemporary challenges in media campaigns.

The papers will also tackle the impact of the Arabic language and its importance in the awareness of journalists in reporting events, the use of media in promoting rumours and fabricated reports, the role of digital media in finding solutions for the Arab region in the future and the role of media in issues of political reform in the Arab world.

Former foreign minister of Jordan Marwan Muasher, who presided over one of the sessions, pointed out that the international conventions do not apply in our area.

“We witness daily violations against journalists in our area but we do not see any international conventions being applied to protect their rights,” Muasher told the gathering.

Nevertheless, Muasher urged journalists to continue to document “the genocide and ongoing human rights violations because one day your voices will be heard”.

“Continue to report and document all kinds of violations because one day in the future your work will be used to question and prosecute the violators, especially Israel,” Muasher told the gathering.