The UN Special Rapporteur spoke to Mediacentar about false balance and the lack of solidarity with Palestinian journalists.

Photo: Jasmin Brutus

Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, delivered the closing address at the WARM Festival in Sarajevo, under the title of her book When the World Sleeps. Albanese, known for her sharp criticism of Israel and the United States, as well as of private companies that she claims profit from the genocide in Gaza, stated clearly that genocide is not a matter of opinion but a clearly defined legal category—and that, according to all relevant legal standards, Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.

Shortly before her arrival in Sarajevo, the United States imposed sanctions on Albanese, accusing her of bias against Israel and of using international law to target American and Israeli officials.

In Sarajevo, Albanese called on “moral warriors” to join a “laboratory of resistance,” urging people to speak out loudly and clearly against the genocide in Gaza and the double standards of Western powers. In an interview with Mediacentar, she spoke about the way corporate Western media report on Gaza and the lack of solidarity shown toward journalists in Palestine.

We heard during the WARM festival about criticism towards the way Western media report on genocide in Gaza and Israel. We often fear that they're using this term of balance and neutrality. What is your comment on that and why do you think this is actually happening?

There are a couple of issues that are of general nature that I would like to highlight. The first is that in general, I think that there is a problem with Western corporate media to center the discussion only or primarily exclusively on what happens in the West or from a Western perspective. There is very limited understanding of what happens in the rest of the world. This also goes with the crisis in the media industry and the fact that they are not always reported from the ground and this is a general issue.

The other question, the other problem, which is connected to this, is that there is always a Western perspective that also reflects a bit of Orientalism, otherwise known as racism, in the way we look at the Other, which applies fully well to the case of Palestine. For almost two years now, but with important precedents and significance before, the Western media have always tended to use the narrative or the point of departure provided by Israel, the Israeli government, the Israeli army, and with leaving very little time and space to recenter the discussion on what today clearly are the victims. And I'm not saying this to justify acts of violence that Palestinians might have committed against Israel, but this is not a conflict. There is no symmetry. The media have pushed for a false equivalence over and over, times and times again.

The other thing is that, like in any genocide, the local media tend to play a dirty role. It has happened in former Yugoslavia, it happened in Bosnia, Rwanda, Germany and in other places dominated by Nazi fascism during the Holocaust. And still what is shocking that this time the dehumanization of the Palestinians has been amplified. This is not just a matter of Israeli media. It has been amplified by Western media.

So I've called for an investigation, for an inquiry over the role of Western media in fabricating, really manufacturing consensus so that the public opinion could first of all hear Israel's narrative and then support it. And in conclusion I think that this is the end of journalism because journalism should entail a minimum of ethics, looking at the facts, offering some analysis instead of offering the microphone to power. And this is what has happened in recent months.

Palestinian journalists have been documenting every day the atrocities that are happening in Gaza, and we have been all seeing these photographs and their stories. But despite that, the world still sleeps. Can journalism really make a difference?

This is why I think this is a turning point and I don't know how we will get out of this moment, this place, but if it's not much better it will be much worse. Because what has happened to journalism, especially from the perspective of Gaza, is shocking. There have been no foreign correspondents, which doesn't mean that there have been no journalists. In fact, 220 journalists have been killed. And just for using the pictures and for relying on the information provided by the journalists who have been slaughtered, those in the capitals of Europe or other Western countries should have been more respectful. Instead, there has been a lack of solidarity, which is appalling. Very little denunciation. And again, you see this condescending attitude and this arrogant posture toward the Other. And the fact is that truth and the truth tellers have been a clear target.

I've conducted myself some investigations. I've seen the investigations also carried out by my colleague, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, that clearly demonstrate that certain people have been targeted because of their reporting, and this is not just in Gaza. The repression of journalism, ethical journalism, has happened in the Western world. But what is even more reprehensible than censorship is self-censorship, the fact that journalists, especially journalists with a strong positionality, achieved people in even in their 60s, in mainstream, big media broadcasters have decided not to talk about the truth because of convenience or because of fear. This is really outrageous. It's such a betrayal.

You are a very courageous woman. You have been speaking and criticizing Israel, the Western governments, despite sanctions and threats. But on the other hand, you're telling simply the truth. So how come that it's so difficult and became so difficult to tell the truth?

I don't think I'm particularly courageous. It's the others who are cowards.

You are reporting, documenting, trying to get information sources. You also touched upon the role of private companies and how they profit from genocide. So is there an advice for journalists that you would give? What to investigate? What else is there that they should really focus on and tell to the world?

I would like to be clear that my critical assessment is primarily directed to corporate media. I'm glad you asked this question because it seems that everything is lost, it's not true, because there are plenty of independent media and independent journalists and journalists from within the bell of the system who have tried, who have exposed themselves, who have taken risks. Whatever you do in life, being a lawyer or being a journalist, you need to act with integrity because if you have a huge responsibility. If you compromise because of the fear or because of convenience, or worse because of personal gain, you shouldn't be called a journalist and you shouldn't be doing that.

Al Jazeera Balkans was closed officially and it has been reporting largely on what is happening in Gaza. So do you have a comment on that? What do you think about the closure? It happened suddenly.

I really didn't know. Al Jazeera has been closed in Israel. It has been closed in the West Bank. I don't know if it reopened. It's a very bad sign. I've been extremely critical of this. It's never a good sign when a media broadcaster, especially like Al Jazeera, when it closes. I don't know what are the reasons behind it, but it's worrisome. And I always hope that these decisions are reversed.