"Difficult to function while a genocide in Gaza – which is still ongoing – and accelerated ethnic-cleansing in the West Bank unfolds. And it has been difficult to wrestle with the ways in which the media is complicit in what is happening. More than 200 Palestinians journalists have been killed in Gaza by Israel since 7 October; far too many journalists in the West have been silent about this. The scale of carnage in Gaza simply wouldn’t have been able to take place without the media dehumanizing Palestinians and manufacturing consent for atrocities...."

" For example: one of the biggest and most inflammatory talking points after 7 October – one which helped convince people there wasn’t a single innocent Palestinian civilian – was that Hamas beheaded 40 babies. Hamas committed verified atrocities, but this was a lie. It was one, however, which plenty of journalists, including CBS news correspondent and a CNN anchor, spread without properly confirming. The CNN anchor later apologized; CBS did not." Arwa Mahdawi

READ MORE  

 https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/15/its-the-medias-job-to-hold-power-to-account-this-year-too-many-got-into-bed-with-it-instead 

 AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

 

A protestor in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

It’s the media’s job to hold power to account. This year, too many got into bed with it instead

Arwa Mahdawi

 The lines between advertising, public relations and journalism have become dangerously blurred

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Enough time has passed now, I think, that I can safely tell you about one of the stupidest things I have ever done. Almost a decade ago I decided to quit my well-paid job in advertising in order to pursue a precarious career in freelance journalism. The merits of that decision are up for debate but the real stupidity is in how I quit my job: I wrote a rather cringeworthy column for the Guardian about my “meaningless job in advertising” and publicly proclaimed that I’d decided to quit. My boss saw the piece and, well, he obviously wasn’t happy. (Sorry, Sean!)

I bring this embarrassing anecdote up because I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting recently on the reasons why I left advertising. Maybe this sounds twee, but I was sick of selling people things they didn’t need. I wanted to do something meaningful.

You know what, though? While selling underwear and vodka to the masses may not be entirely fulfilling, it’s better for the soul than selling people wars and genocide... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/15/its-the-medias-job-to-hold-power-to-account-this-year-too-many-got-into-bed-with-it-instead