Key facts
- Gaza journalists are reporting from tents due to the destruction of media offices.
- Over 80% of media offices in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged.
- 60-75% of media workers in Gaza have been displaced.
- Nika Soon-Shiong was removed from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) board.
- CPJ is conducting a review of its database of journalists killed in the Israel-Gaza War.
- Twenty Palestinian journalists were removed from CPJ's count, reducing it to 209.
Gaza's journalists are operating from tents after Israeli attacks have destroyed more than 80% of media offices and displaced an estimated 60-75% of media workers. This dire situation for media professionals in the region comes as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is undertaking a review of its database of journalists killed during the Israel-Gaza War.
Nika Soon-Shiong, publisher of Drop Site News and formerly a CPJ board member, revealed on Monday that she was removed from the board. She had previously raised concerns about the organization's methodology for counting journalists killed in Gaza, particularly regarding the exclusion of certain Palestinian journalists. Soon-Shiong questioned the criteria used for exclusion, referencing an article in The Washington Free Beacon that criticized the CPJ board for alleged anti-Israel sentiment.
CPJ stated that Soon-Shiong's tenure on the board concluded in June 2026, implying her removal was not directly related to her recent concerns. However, sources cited by Mohammed el-Kurd, Palestine correspondent for The Nation, suggest CPJ plans to alter its definition of a journalist to exclude some Palestinian and Lebanese reporters working for state-funded media, while allegedly maintaining recognition for Israeli, American, and Ukrainian journalists in similar roles.
The CPJ announced a full review of its database after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad published obituaries identifying some individuals previously listed as journalists as combatants. This review has already led to the removal of twenty Palestinian journalists from CPJ's count, bringing the total to 209. In contrast, the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate reports over 270 media workers killed since October 7, 2023.