Sydney Morning Herald says journalists who signed Gaza petition now ‘unable to participate in any reporting related to the war’
The Sydney Morning Herald has banned any staff from reporting on the Gaza conflict if they signed a recent petition about media coverage of the war.
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Journalists from various Australian newsrooms have signed an open letter advocating for increased scrutiny in reporting the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Prominent figures like Tony Armstrong, Benjamin Law, and Jan Fran, along with union house committees of the ABC and Guardian Australia, and the national media section committee from media union MEAA, endorsed the letter.
The letter was signed by 53 journalists from various institutions including the ABC, Guardian Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Schwartz Media.
The letter outlines eight steps for Australian newsrooms to enhance coverage of the conflict, emphasising credible allegations of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid.
Among the requests are adequate coverage of historical context, transparency about journalists’ trips to Israel, rejection of paid trips to the Middle East, avoidance of “both-sidesism,” and increased scrutiny when using Israeli government or military sources.
The organisers clarified that the letter is not a criticism of any specific newsroom but a call for stringent standards in covering the important global story.
But later on Friday, The Sydney Morning Herald executive editor Tory Maguire posted a message to staff on behalf of the papers’ leadership, saying that staff who signed the petition will be “unable to participate in any reporting or production related to the war”.
Cameron Wilson from Crikey News first posted the screenshot of the message to Twitter.
SMH/Age executive editor Tory Maguire has posted a message in their Slack on behalf of the papers' leadership saying that staff who signed a letter about Australia's Israel-Palestine media coverage will be "unable to participate in any reporting or production related to the war" pic.twitter.com/M8YJV9qFdI
— cameron wilson (@cameronwilson) November 24, 2023
“The SMH and The Age hold a very significant place in Australian society because of the mastheads’ reputations for independent journalism and reporting bound by the highest standards of impartiality. It is a strong held-tenet that our journalists’ personal agendas do not influence our reporting on news events,” the message read.
“We’re very proud of our coverage, which continues to abide by the highest standards of ethical journalism. Any newsroom staff who signed this latest industry letter will be unable to participate in any reporting or production relating to the war.
“We will continue to hold the mastheads’ social media policy.
“This will have no impact on our capacity to continue to provide extensive, quality journalism on the topic.”
The letter also stressed the importance of representing multicultural communities in news coverage and ensuring scrutiny doesn’t stigmatise any ethnic or religious communities.
About 20 staff and contributors to Nine Publishing and over 200 ABC journalists expressed concerns about the coverage of the conflict in early November.
“As I have said several times recently, maintaining trust and credibility as an ABC staff member means you forego the opportunity to share your opinions about stories on which you report or may be involved in,” ABC’s director of news Justin Stevens sent in a message to staff.
“You should not sign any petition that may bring into question your impartiality or that of the ABC’s coverage.”
A similar letter by American journalists was inked with 1200 signatures, with some expressing fear of reprisal from employers.
Originally published as Sydney Morning Herald says journalists who signed Gaza petition now ‘unable to participate in any reporting related to the war’
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