Staff Writer
Fatima Abashera
On Wednesday May 11, the world awakened to the devastating news of the murder of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian- American journalist who had spend the last for 25 years working as a reporter forthe Aljazeera, a prominent Arabic news channel.
Abu Akleh was a very familiar face for viewers of the news channel, including myself. She covered much of the updates on Israels’ attacks on Palestine and the constant war going on there. This news for me was the climax of escalating events in Palestine and across the Jerusalem Peninsula. I appreciated her because she took a huge risk to bring light to these global issues and she was not afraid with the knowledge of how risky it was.
As someone who has kept up with the events on this news, I found it extremely concerning that the Western Media had little to no coverage on the killing of this famous journalist because this was not just an attack on her but also an attack on the news and information surrounding what is going on in Palestine.
Abu Akleh was a United States citizen, so the fact that Biden and other leaders in the US have not addressed it is very concerning. Although it is unclear whether or not the Israeli forces killed her and further investigation is being worked on, the US can do a lot more to protect journalists from any potential dangers that come as a price with reporting on ongoing dangerous situations. among the many other journalists who risk their lives everyday in an attempt to shed light on the global issues that affect minority groups. Journalism is an extremely dangerous job especially for women in the field.
I believe that people internationally should make efforts to help and educate themselves as much as possible. Personally, I believe that people already consume so much media on a daily basis so it doesn’t hurt to read about issues affecting other parts of the world. Nevertheless, Abu Akleh wasn’t just a person she was a journalist and this murder symbolizes a lot more. It symbolizes an attack on the news and information she helped bring to light.
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