Journalism has endured a challenging year, with no area hit harder than Gaza. Here, a minimum of 103 media representatives have lost their lives due to Israeli offenses over the last five months, as stated by Reporters Without Borders. This accounts for one-tenth of all journalists within Gaza, contributing to the higher number of 34,000 casualties.
Some suggest these deaths were not merely accidental outcomes of war, but intentional specifically aimed at media personnel and their kin, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders. They mention a well-known episode where eight relatives of photojournalist Yasser Qudih were fatally injured in an Israeli attack, which was based on a completely discredited claim that he and three other photographers from Gaza had early information of an impending attack by Hamas on Israel. This was linked to a fraudulent statement by the Israeli foreign ministry accusing major media outlets of having journalists working closely with Hamas during an incident in October.
However, the task of preserving press freedom, an indispensable component of our democratic framework, does not lie solely with Gaza. In the European Union, this liberty is teetering on the brink in numerous nations, says the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, a guardian of human rights. The union highlights the correlation between press freedom and the upholding of law, which are both in jeopardy within increasingly autocratic EU members like Hungary.
Consequently, the new European Media Freedom Act, a legislative enactment of the EU that seeks to combat the prevalent issue of ‘Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation’, limit the deployment of spyware against journalists, safeguard sources, and mandate transparent media ownership, carries significant weight. It is only right that the Irish Government pledge to promptly adopt it into Irish legislation and also start enforcing long overdue adjustments to the Defamation Act. The need for alterations to Ireland’s tardy, unreliable, and costly legal system has been evident for several years. Addressing these issues should bolster the integrity of Irish democracy.