BRUSSELS, Friday, July 26, 2024 (WAFA) – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced today that it would launch a new fund, providing $1 million in critical financial support to public interest media organisations across Palestine.
“Created to sustain and enhance public interest journalism, the mission of the fund is also to protect the future of the media sector as the conflict in the region continues,” the IFJ said in a press statement.
“At a time when local journalism in Palestine has been decimated — at least 117 journalists and media professionals have been killed in the war in Gaza since October — the need to protect public interest journalism has never been more acute. In addition, with dozens of journalists injured and many media outlets facing imminent closure, the fund provides a vital lifeline for the media ecosystem in Palestine — and the public that relies upon it for quality, local reporting,” it added.
Funded by the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), the IFJ, in partnership with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) and the Palestinian Media Sector Coordination Group (PMSCG), will provide up to 20 individual grants to local media entities. Available to a diverse range of private local and national outlets, these grants will help to pay the salaries of journalists, and sustain and promote the production of public interest reporting, as mentioned in the IFJ statement.
“Nowhere is the urgency to save journalism from extinction more pronounced than in Palestine. The professional and humanitarian costs to journalists on the ground and the long-term societal implications of the potential loss of local, public interest reporting are enormous. Covering the crisis in Gaza has come at a terrible cost. Many journalists have lost their lives, lost their jobs or face an increasingly perilous and untenable financial situation,” said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.
“By providing critical financial support to independent media organisations, we seek to sustain and expand their public interest content. We are endeavouring to help them survive and to ensure journalists — many of whom have not been paid for months — can earn a living and fulfil their mission to educate and inform,” he added.
Welcoming the launch of the new fund for media in Palestine, IFPIM CEO, Nishant Lalwani, emphasised, “A fundamental part of IFPIM’s mission is to sustain independent media around the world, particularly where it is most crucial for promoting accountability. With the crisis continuing unabated, the need for financial support for independent journalism in Palestine is both urgent and profoundly important. We are pleased to partner with the IFJ to ensure that Palestinians and the world can continue to stay informed from local media outlets, whose reporters are working in grave conditions to provide on-the-ground coverage and analysis. Most importantly, we want to be part of the solution that protects a durable public interest media ecosystem in the future and contributes to long-term peace and stability.”
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