By Abigail Epstein – Arts & Culture Editor

The Tribune, based out of McGill University, hosted their annual journalism conference Mar. 22 in Montréal. It was a crowd of student journalists, activists and professionals. It was an event struck with urgency.

The crux of the conference concerned the topic of the media’s responsibility towards Palestine. In a panel consisting of representatives from Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) and Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), the issues with mainstream Canadian news coverage of Palestine were discussed. The panellists refrained from using their full names as a means of precaution.

In a critical analysis of the media, stylistics in news coverage were examined: frequent passive voice avoids assigning responsibility, while misleading language distorts a reader’s perception of the news. Israeli and Zionist perspectives are often privileged and do not have to go through the ringers of verification, under which Palestinian voices are subject. Coverage of student movements in solidarity tends to trivialize, rather than shed light: “The spectacle of student activism was emphasized over the actual issue of Palestinian subjugation,” the IJV representative noted. Problematically, the encampments were treated as a “beginning, middle, and end” to the story of Palestine. There is also an apparent threat to label any denunciation of Israel as antisemitic, and authoritative backlash makes speaking to truth difficult, for both activists and journalists. Yet, the responsibility of the media remains oriented to the truth: informing, empowering and holding power accountable.

“Keep talking, keep exposing media bias and misleading language,” one panellist insisted. “There isn’t a ceasefire deal anymore. Deaths have continued to occur.” The panel suggested that a lack of historical understanding of the liberation struggle has led to the ending of the narrative with the end of this wave of global protest. But the movement hasn’t stopped. “Media coverage didn’t get better after the ceasefire, the aforementioned issues continue” another panellist continued, “Anyone on a college campus must move.”

Ashira Darwish, keynote speaker of the conference, reflected on her experience as a journalist in Palestine as “one of the most dangerous careers anyone can take,” facing the force of Israel: “They want to silence us and silence their crimes.”

To student journalists, she stressed this: “The journalism we are taught is created by the West, and it says we can’t take sides, [that] we must stand on the side and watch. Not taking action – that is the complete opposite of what journalists are. If they have a voice, there is a need for a journalist to tell their story… If you are a [journalist], you should stand on the side of the oppressed people. We have a responsibility to not protect the oppressors.”

For Darwish, the oppressors should be apparent. The asymmetry of warfare, the military censorship, and the dehumanization of Palestinians as a result of their propaganda – even beyond the daily subjugation of basic rights being withheld. She emphasised that “nothing is happening in Palestine that Palestinians would want to hide.”

The imperative for journalists, students, and all citizens is this: you must decide if you share what is happening and you must be aware of the implications of the form you share it in.