Statements
In Support of Writers Against the War On Gaza's Call for Comprehensive Coverage of the Israeli Genocide
In September 2025, Save the Children estimated that Israeli forces had been killing more than one Palestinian child per hour since the start of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip—or more than 20,000 children in less than two years. By the end of the month, Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported over 66,000 people killed and more than 168,500 injured, the vast majority women and children.
Meanwhile, Israel’s stranglehold on Western news media has been deafening. As Writers Against the War On Gaza has repeatedly noted, the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza should be front-page news—yet it is often conspicuously absent from Western media. In response, WAWOG urges the public to “flood the newsrooms,” encouraging readers everywhere to email editors at leading news outlets and demand truthful, comprehensive coverage of Israel’s continuing war crimes in Gaza.
The Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union fully endorses WAWOG’s call to hold Western news media accountable. We ask our members, fellow printing and publishing workers, and readers everywhere to use WAWOG’s contact lists and templates to demand that the Israeli genocide in Gaza is covered accurately, prominently and with the urgency and gravity it deserves.
In Condemnation of Israel’s Ongoing Killings of Palestinian Journalists
On January 9, 22-year-old self-described “accidental war correspondent” Abubaker Abed spoke out against the lack of support for Palestinian journalists from the international press.
“We have been let down by the international community, particularly the international media organizations,” said Abed as he stood among a crowd of fellow journalists.
He pointed out that the protective gear marked “PRESS” that war correspondents often wear marks Palestinian journalists as targets for Israeli forces carrying out genocide in the Gaza Strip, rather than offering them any meaningful protection.
Abed’s words came just two weeks after an Israeli strike killed five journalists from the Al Quds Network while they were in a van similarly marked “PRESS.” Another journalist was also killed on January 3, bringing the total number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since the start of the genocide to at least 198, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
The deliberate killing of journalists is a violation of international law, yet after more than a year of Israel’s genocide, journalists continue to be killed by the Israeli military. To make matters worse, legacy media outlets like The New York Times have failed to detail Israel’s war crimes despite substantiation by authorities like Human Rights Watch in their report “Extermination and Acts of Genocide.”
The Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union joins Abed and his fellow Palestinian journalists in condemning the media silence around Israel’s genocide and in demanding support for Palestinian journalists from international media organizations.
We urge all journalists and media workers across the globe to help platform, boost and share the work of journalists in Palestine. We also urge our members and supporters to continue to contribute to the PJS via the International Federation of Journalists. We stand in solidarity with journalists in occupied Palestine and, as always, echo the motto of the IWW: An injury to one is an injury to all!
In Support of Platforming Palestinian Journalists
In response to the prevalence of Zionist propaganda regarding the State of Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, as well as deteriorating economic conditions in the West Bank due to the Israeli occupation’s escalating violence there, the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union calls upon journalists and editors reporting on Palestine to platform Palestinian journalists as sources and to prioritize them for commissions.
At the time of this writing, at least 152 journalists in both Gaza and the West Bank have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023. Despite the danger, our Palestinian fellow workers risk life and limb every day to show the world the brutality inflicted upon them and their people. Their courage deserves not only our respect and solidarity, but material support.
To that end, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) is willing and able to connect journalists and editors to its English-speaking members. Especially in the last year, the work of Palestinian journalists has been a crucial driver of support for the liberation of Palestine. By offering to make these connections, PJS is providing journalists and editors with a direct line to the people doing that work, as well as a way to ensure that work continues. To be connected with English-speaking PJS members, please contact Shuruq Asad of the union’s general secretariat at: [email protected].
Time and time again, we have seen English-speaking news media refuse to acknowledge the State of Israel’s role in murdering our colleagues. Such cowardice has no place in the IWW FJU. We must reject all editorial decisions that fail to frame killing journalists as just that: killing journalists.
As always, the IWW FJU stands in solidarity with our fellow workers in Palestine. Solidarity forever!
IWW FJU Condemns Attacks on Journalists Reporting in Iraq
On the 23rd of August 2024, a Turkish targeted drone strike hit a car carrying three journalists in the Seyidsadiq district of Sulaymaniyah. Gulîstan Tara and Hêro Bahadîn, were killed and Rebin Baker was injured. Tara was a reporter and Hêro was a video editor. Both were working for CHATR, a production company based in Kurdistan on assignment for Sterk TV, a Norwegian outlet, at the time they were killed.
Following the attack, various media outlets alleged the reporters were members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) but provided no evidence that they were members at the time of their killing. Meeting with sources who may not be aligned with the interests of the states we call home is an integral part of journalism and in no way warrants the targeting of reporters.
The targeting of women who fearlessly raised their voices to document the truth in a region where misogyny has been widespread is also unacceptable. Targeting journalists represents an attack on the truth, and we join numerous other unions and media organizations in condemning this wanton act of state violence.
This is not the first drone strike on journalists in Kurdistan by the Turkish government. Murad Mirza Ibrahim, an employee with the Kurdish media outlet Cira TV, was also killed in a drone strike a month ago. The Jurdiustan Autonomous Region of Iraq is becoming an increasingly dangerous region for the press, and we stand in solidarity with our fellow workers there demanding safer conditions and an end to targeted strikes.
Attacks on the press are unacceptable, and the pattern of targeted drone strikes on our fellow workers constitutes an attack on all of us and our ability to work safely and report the truth. The IWW FJU stands in solidarity with Hero and Tara’s families in their call for justice, and the people of Kurdistan in their calls for peace and an end to the drone war. An injury to one is an injury to all!
IWW FJU Shares Model Contract for Freelancers to Reference
The Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union, with the support of Framework Law, has created a new model contract for freelance journalists to reference in the course of their individual negotiations with commissioning editors. The model contract is a publicly available resource, providing a reference point of contract terms to help protect freelancers when engaging with commissioning editors and to support more favorable working conditions. That said, please be aware that this contract is not legal advice. You can download the contract from our Resources page.
The IWW FJU encourages all freelancers to share, download, modify, and use the model contract as they see fit. Freelancers can compare the model contract to those they are provided with by commissioning editors, thereby helping freelancers judge the quality of the terms presented by the publication. The model contract also provides provisions that freelancers may want to request from commissioning editors — or in cases where commissioning editors provide an inadequate contract or no contract at all, freelancers may also want to request adoption of the entire model contract.
The model contract is one part of the IWW FJU’s emerging contract campaign. If you would like to get involved, please contact the IWW FJU at [email protected].