Freelance journalists in Gaza now have access to the latest technology to write, edit and file their stories thanks to a new partnership with the Rory Peck Trust.
The agreement, with the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center, provides laptops for up to 30 journalists—helping to protect their livelihoods and ensuring that independent reporting from Gaza continues to reach the wider world.
The laptops will be made available through the Gaza Journalists Hub, established by the PJPC, an independent Palestinian organisation dedicated to supporting and protecting Palestinian journalists. The Hub offers journalists a place to work and support one another, alongside training, professional and legal assistance.
Ashraf Mashharawi, Director of the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center, said the organisation’s goal is to help journalists continue their work by every means possible:
“Every journalist we are able to help keep working—even by providing some of the basic tools they need—is another opportunity to keep the story alive.”
The war, now approaching its third year, has taken a terrible toll on those reporting it. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, more than 200 journalists have been killed and a further 175 injured. Those who have survived have faced immense challenges in continuing their work.
Research conducted for Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) found that 92% of Palestinian journalists had lost equipment essential to their reporting, while 88% said their workplace had been destroyed.
Announcing the partnership, Rory Peck Trust Executive Director Jon Williams said its impact would be felt far beyond Gaza:
“For two and a half years, these journalists—many of them freelancers—have been the world’s eyes and ears inside Gaza, documenting the unfolding horror on their doorstep even as they themselves have been fighting for survival.
“The least they deserve is to have the tools to do the job. Now, many more of them will—ensuring they can continue to bear witness to what is happening inside Gaza.”