Palestinian Wattan Media Network fights for independent news from Gaza
Muamar Orabi raises his hands in the air. “Of course!” he exclaims. “I do everything to keep our journalists working and to keep Wattan Media Network sustainable, viable, and a strong voice. But we found ourselves facing critical challenges. We lack financial resources to pay salaries for journalists, support news gathering, and cover operational costs."
The goal for Wattan was to be near financial independence of donations by 2025. ”But we are back to square one, now that our advertising revenue has entirely disappeared, and some Western donors suspended their funding (without prior notice) to Palestinian organisations”, says Orabi, managing director of Wattan.
And yet Wattan Media Network, one of the top ranked, most popular, independent and secular media networks in the Palestinian territories, publishes daily about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. “We still have seven journalists in Gaza, but two of them are unable to work due to trauma because of family loss”, says Orabi. Together with Wattan advocacy team member Marie Bauduin he is making a short visit to France, Belgium, and the Netherlands from Ramallah, a city in central West Bank and Wattan's home base. “We must continue. Two of our journalist’s lost their entire families in attacks by Israel in Gaza, our office in Gaza is destroyed completely and our equipment lost.”
Deep concerns
Free Press Unlimited is deeply concerned about press freedom and the safety of journalists in Gaza and the Occupied Territories. Together with 60 media and civil society organisations, we have signed an open letter calling on Israel to allow journalists to have independent access to Gaza. Since the start of the war, independent media have been denied access, increasing the pressure on domestic journalists and creating space for mis- and disinformation. We also call on the international community to hold the Israeli government accountable for the unprecedented number of journalists killed, and to put an immediate end to attacks on journalists.
“We must continue. Two of our journalist’s lost their entire families in attacks by Israel in Gaza, our office in Gaza is destroyed completely and our equipment lost.” - Muamar Orabi
Mental resilience
Free Press Unlimited has supported Wattan, among other things, by providing equipment to help their journalists to continue working. Additionally, 15 journalists have been trained in fact-checking to combat disinformation, misinformation, and the spread of rumours and hate speech. Part of the training also included increasing journalists' mental resilience against the constant stream of gruesome images they must view to verify facts.
Wattan, internationally recognised multiple times for their journalistic work, focuses on reporting on human rights, marginalised populations, accountability and investigative journalism, and encourages journalistic projects for and by youth and women. It is one of the largest independent news networks in their area, with 75 journalists employed.
Newsgroups
Meanwhile, Wattan Media Network's Facebook page has been shut down multiple times without any explanation from Facebook as part of censoring Palestinian content, but is back online for now. Wattan broadcasts their content through TV, radio, and on social media platforms, while during the war Wattan also published its news through messaging platforms. “We are shifting our activities to newsgroups on WhatsApp and Telegram. In Gaza, there are hardly any good internet connections; it is better in the West Bank. Wattan has 3.6 million followers on Facebook and 50 million views on YouTube, during the war we created new platforms and have about 50,000 new followers on WhatsApp community groups and Telegram.”
Support
Orabi is in Europe to gather support, and also visited the Free Press Unlimited's office in Amsterdam. “We can no longer go out with large cameras in Gaza. They are immediately taken away. So we work with phones and laptops to transmit our footage. We are in urgent need of financial resources to cover the salaries of journalists and equipment, including memory cards, hard disks, e-SIMs, mobile phones with camera and laptops. This equipment is also needed for our journalists in different cities in the West Bank due to settler attacks that cause restrictions and challenges for movement. Furthermore, we are in need of safety equipment. We are under constant pressure. And because we are secular, we are not only under pressure from Israel and settler attacks but also from fundamental groups.”
"We are in urgent need of financial resources to cover the salaries of journalists and equipment including memory cards, hard disks, and e-SIMs, mobile phones with camera and laptops." - Muamar Orabi
According to Muamar Orabi, who co-founded the Wattan Media Network 28 years ago, Wattan has great trust among Palestinians. “We have demonstrated the importance of independent news, including accountability and investigations, in Palestine. We are important for marginalised groups, women, and youth, for whom Wattan advocates for social, economic, and political rights. Our slogan is: ‘we give a voice of the voiceless’.”
Director Ruth Kronenburg greatly appreciates the work of the Wattan Media Network. “These journalists have to do their work under the most challenging conditions. We do what we can to support them in this.”
