With Israel’s genocide on Gaza killing more journalists than any other modern conflict, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has come under fire over who it counts as a journalist. The prominent press freedom group is reviewing its database of slain Palestinian media workers, months after whistleblowers accused it of scrapping its Global Impunity Index because Israel was expected to rank first.
CPJ announced last week that it is “conducting a full review” of its database of journalists killed during Israel’s war on Gaza. The New York based group claimed that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries “identifying as combatants” individuals previously listed by CPJ as journalists. The organisation said the current total of journalists and media workers killed by Israel in Gaza and in Israeli detention centres since 7 October, 2023, “stands at 209.”
CPJ chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said the organisation does not include anyone in its datasets if there is evidence that they were “engaging in combat or inciting imminent violence.”
Ginsberg also condemned what she described as the “misrepresentation of combatants as journalists,” saying CPJ was reviewing its lists to ensure that no one actively engaged in combat remained included in its data. CPJ said the review is expected to be completed in July.
