The challenges of reporting the war in Gaza

WAMU 88.5 | By Haili Blassingame

Published November 6, 2023 at 12:07 AM EST

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Journalists, relatives and friends pray over the body of Palestine TV journalist Mohamed Abu Hatab and eleven family members the day after they were killed when their home was hit in the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip on November 3, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. Thousands of civilians, both Palestinians and Israelis, have died since October 7, 2023, after Palestinian Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip entered southern Israel in an unprecedented attack triggering a war declared by Israel on Hamas with retaliatory bombings on Gaza. (Photo by Mahmud HAMS / AFP) (Photo by MAHMUD HAMS/AFP via Getty Images)

War is inherently difficult to cover in real-time.

Events unfold quickly, casualties can be hard to verify, social media easily floods with mis and disinformation, and the lives of journalists on the ground are often in danger.

The war between Israel and Hamas is no different.In fact, The Committee to Protect Journalists has called the death toll among journalists in the conflict unprecedented with at least 36 journalistskilled since the war began last month.

What does it look like to cover one of the most complicated conflicts in modern history as a journalist today?And what do these challenges mean about the coverage you’re getting as a consumer of news?