Edited by Awad Joumaa & Khaled Ramadan Coordinator Diana Larrea i JOURNALISM IN TIMES OF WAR First published in 2018 by the Al Jazeera Media Institute Legal Deposit No.: 623/2017 ISBN: 978-9927-4011-9-0 Printed in Qatar Editors: Awad Joumaa & Khaled Ramadan Coordinator: Diana Larrea English Copy Editors: Adrian Finighan, Dorian Batycka, Stine Høxbroe Arabic Copy Editor: Mohammed Zeidan Translators: Lamia Sahili and Tala Noujeim Researcher: Stine Hoxbroe Cover Image: Al Jazeera Media Network. Still photograph taken from docu- mentary film “Zero Distance”, episode “Among Syrian Fighters”. The image shows Al Jazeera correspondent Salam Hindawi in a tunnel in northern Syria, used by Syrian rebels to move underground and fight the Syrian regime. Book Design: Ahmad Fattah Copyright 2018 Al Jazeera Media Institute ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii Table of Contents Contributors! ! 6 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Message from the Al Jazeera Media Institute 11 Editors’ Note By Awad Joumaa and Khaled Ramadan!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 12 Introduction Close Up and Personal By Hamid Dabashi !16 PART 1 War Journalism – Lessons Learned and Practical Advice Chapter 1 A Struggle Within a Struggle: Media Coverage and Censorship in Yemen Interview with Bashraheel Hisham Bashraheel!21 !17 Chapter 2 Despite Barriers and Hazards: A Woman’s Experience Working in Gaza By Ameera Ahmad Harouda! !40 Chapter 3 Lessons from a War Correspondent Interview with Zeina Khodr! !49 Chapter 4 War on Your Doorsteps: Journalism and Activism By Zaina Erhaim! !71 iii Chapter 5 Reporting Under Occupation in Palestine Interview with Tamer Al-Meshal! 83 Chapter 6 Tales of a Local: Freelance Journalist in Yemen By Muatasm Alhitari 97 PART 2 From the Digital Trenches: Transforming War Cove age Chapter 7 Digital Sherlocks: Open Source Investigation and New Verification During Wartime By Christiaan Triebert and Hadi Al-Khatib 109 Chapter 8 War Stories Through Social Media: Audience Engagement and Ethical Hiring Practices By Sakhr Al-Makhadhi 134 Chapter 9 Beyond Bystanders: Citizen Journalism During the Egyptian Revolution By Khaled Faheem 142 iv PART 3 Making Journalism Better and Safer Chapter 10 Protection of Journalists under Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law By Abou Abass 157 Chapter 11 Closing the Door on Inciting Violence: How to Avoid Hate Speech By Ibrahim Saber 172 Chapter 12 Professional Integrity: The Cornerstone of Protection By Peter Greste 190 Chapter 13 Good Governance in Media Organisations By Aidan White 199 v Contributors Abou Abass Hadi Al-Khatib is a Judicial Affairs Officer in the MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimen- collects, verifies, investigates and preserves citizen-generated data as sional Integrated Mission in Mali) since March 2017. Before, he worked evidence of human rights violations. He is part of the Syrian Archive pro- as Human Rights Officer, in the Office of the United Nations High Com- ject, an initiative aiming at exposing and drawing attention to these vio- missioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Tunisia country office (2012- lations committed by all sides in the Syrian conflict. He also works with 2017), Associate Judicial Affairs Officer in the United Nations-African Un- Bellingcat as a Project Lead for open source investigations in the Middle ion hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), and Associate Legal Officer in the East and North Africa region. Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Prior to joining UN in January 2009, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the @hadi_alkhatib Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland Gal- way (NUIG) and Law Clerk at the International Criminal Court (ICC). @UNHumanRights Muatasm Alhitari Sakhr Al-Makhadhi is a 26-year-old Yemeni journalist and TV cameraman. He started work- ing for Al Jazeera Arabic News Channel as a freelancer seven years ago. is the Middle East Editor and Acting Executive Producer at AJ+. He is an Later on, he joined a rights group that advocates for the protection of award- winning broadcast journalist, specialising in Syria. He won the journalists in Yemen. Muatasm has also worked as a freelancer for inter- national media outlets such as BBC World. He is currently working as a Anna Lindh Mediterranean Journalist Award 2012-2013 in Berlin, for “Un- freelance news fixer for Al Jazeera English. derstanding Syria”, on the BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine Show. He has been a contributor on BBC TV and radio, Sky News and Channel 4 News; and @muatasmmanso written for The National and The Guardian. @syrianews 6 Tamer Al-Meshal Hamid Dabashi is an internationally renowned cultural critic and award-winning author, is a Palestinian filmmaker and television journalist with years of experi- his books and articles have been translated into numerous languages, ence in covering war zones. He has extensively covered the Palestine- including Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Hebrew, Israel conflict for Al Jazeera. He has also worked for the BBC. For most Danish, Arabic, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Polish, Turkish, Urdu and of his life, he has been based in Gaza covering Israel’s numerous wars Catalan. He is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and and incursions, as well as the subsequent sieges. He has covered the Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest wars in Libya and Syria. He is now based in Doha where he has dedi- and most prestigious Chair in his field. cated his time to investigative documentaries. @HamidDabashi @TamerMisshal Bashraheel Bashraheel is the Deputy Editor in Chief of Al-Ayyam, one of Yemen’s largest daily newspapers, based in Aden. One of his first assignments, as an intern journalist, was reporting on the Yugoslavian war. He has suffered from the on-going war in Yemen not only through the several attacks and crackdowns by the authorities against al-Ayyam, but also on a personal level, surviving threats and living in fear of his life and that of his family. Zaina Erhaim is a Syrian journalist named among the 100 Most Powerful Arab Women in 2016 by Arabian Business, and Unsung Heroes by Reuters Thomson. She has been awarded with the Index on Censorship, Free- dom of Expression Award in 2016, amongst other awards. As the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, she has trained 100 citizen journalists, a third of whom are women. She di- rected the documentary series, “Syria’s Rebellious Women”. @ZainaErhaim 7 Khalid Faheem Ameera Ahmad Harouda is the first woman fixer in Gaza, Palestine. She has been leading journal- is an Egyptian journalist and co-founder of Rassd News Network, ists to hidden stories of her country and people for over a decade. where he currently works as its Content Manager. He studied Business Through her work, she intends to show the world what happens in Administration and started his journalism education in Deutsche Welle her community and challenge the image of Palestine often depicted in Akademie and Al Jazeera. He has trained citizen journalists in Egypt mainstream Western media. She believes in struggling every day for from 2012-2013. Khalid now lives in exile. providing women and girls in Gaza with equal access to education and employment. @KhaledFahem Stine Hoxbroe Peter Greste is a researcher, scriptwriter and editor focusing on the use of new me- dia in relation to societal developments. She has produced several has worked for BBC, Reuters, CNN, and WTN. He covered the emer- documentary films for national and international TV; she regularly con- gence of the Taliban and post-9/11 war in Afghanistan. From 2005, he tributes to cultural journals and magasines, and is the author of the was a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in Africa. In 2011, he won book InDesign published by Libris 2008. Hoxbroe is co-founder of the Peabody Award for his documentary, “Somalia: Land of Anarchy”. Doculogia, Critical Media Production (www. doculogia.com) a multime- Greste and two of his Al Jazeera colleagues were arrested in Egypt in dia institute that specialises in producing web content and documen- December 2013, on suspicion of illegally broadcasting news and tary films. She is educated at Roskilde University and Danish School of harming “domestic security”. After spending 400 days in prison, Greste Media & Journalism. was set free. @PeterGreste 8 Diana Larrea Maccise Awad Joumaa is an internationalist, specialized in media, security and human rights. is a documentary filmmaker and TV News Editor at Al Jazeera English. She is content editor and project manager at the Al Jazeera Media Insti- He has conceived, written, produced and directed eight documentaries tute, where she develops and coordinates initiatives that translate Al on the Middle East and Europe on topics, such as the ‘War on Terror’, Jazeera’s experience into transferable knowledge. She held several posi- Palestine, racism, far right extremism, and Islamophobia. His experience tions at the Mexican Presidency of the Republic, doing political analysis, extends to hostile environments in areas such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Leba- content development and communication strategy, and is currently pursu- non and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He has received training in ing a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Contemporary War ethical journalism and war zones by the Norwegian Centre for Human at King’s College London. Rights. @dimaccise @awadaje Zeina Khodr Khaled Ramadan is an award-winning correspondent based out of Doha. She has worked is a lecturer, filmmaker and writer. He is the director of the Media Art Re- at Al Jazeera English since its launch in 2006 and has covered wars in search Space, MARS, Antalya, and co-evaluator of the Alto University Syria and Iraq, as well as the upheavals of the Arab Spring. Her coverage professorship program 2017. He is the author of several films and the of the uprising in Tripoli was nominated at the Monte Carlo TV and Film book Peripheral Insider, Copenhagen University Press 2007.