- What happens when you find yourself as the only English-language television broadcaster at a breaking news scene?
- What happens when that breaking news scene is a major war in the middle east?
That’s exactly what happened for Al Jazeera journalists Sherine Tadros and Ayman Mohyeldin earlier this year when Al Jazeera English found itself the only major English television broadcaster allowed inside Gaza.
A 12-day ban prevented other Western media networks entering the area – although the BBC used two producers already on the ground. Read this post by the POLIS researcher Nina Bigalke, on Charlie Beckett’s blog, for a fuller context. “If 12 hours are a very long time in the world of journalism, 12 days seem like an eternity,” Bigalke writes.
“To be the only English channel on the ground could be a ‘one-off experience’ during her career, [Tadros] said. While she thrived on being part of the only English-language media team on the ground – ‘everything we did was exclusive’ – Tadros was aware of the responsibility to cover as much as possible for an English speaking audience.”
Now it’s your chance to join in and put your questions to the pair. Visit this site at 2pm (GMT +1). Journalism.co.uk will be putting a series of questions, via CoverItLive, to Tadros and Mohyeldin about their experience. Was it liberating to find themselves without the BBC working alongside? Was it a daunting responsibility?
Leave your own questions in the comments below this post and they will be included in the interview. See you at 2pm (4pm Doha time). You can also submit questions to @journalism_live on Twitter.
UPDATE 15.00 BST: THIS EVENT HAS NOW FINISHED. Thank you for your questions and thoughts. Please leave additional comments on the subject of media coverage in Gaza below this post. If you participated and wish to comment on the use of CoverItLive in this format please send your feedback to judith at journalism.co.uk. Did it seem a good way to present an interview? Was the balance of questions between Journalism.co.uk and users about right? Many thanks in advance for your help.
Because of the surrounding events taking place during the war around you; people dying, bombs going off left, right and centre and homes continously being demolished. How hard was it, for either of you, to keep your personal emotions towards the war out of your reports?
Sherine, a month ago you returned to Gaza and expressed your frustration that once again there was a surprising lack of international journalists, this time without a ban holding them back. As you pointed out there clearly still is a story to be told, so what has to change in international journalism in your opinion to keep the attention on unfolding humanitarian catastrophes after the noise subsided – or for that matter, before it starts?
This is a question for both Ayman and Sherine.
It’s clear that the Western media have failed to learn their lesson re: covering Gaza. As two journalists that saw and experienced the impact of the war first hand – if you could say one thing to the Western media what would it be?
Thanks for your questions everyone – either via CoverItLive, Twitter, or here. A few of the extra questions that didn’t get answered.
From Graham Holliday via CoverItLive: ‘What problems, if any, did you have technically getting the story out? Any equipment difficulties, or internet/satellite access?’
From Hodan Yusuf-Pankhurst via CoverItLive: ‘It was said that almost everyone in Gaza lost a loved one / a neighbor/ colleague in the attacks, did either of you lose someone close to you; and if yes did this affect your reporting?’
From @monstris via Twitter: ‘What compelled you to pool the footage you gleaned on the ground instead of keeping it to yourselves as an exclusive?’
Very informative interview! The time might have been too limited to answer all of the questions raised, however it was still a great interview and very enjoyable =)
Sadly, I didn’t have time to ask a question, yet the questions raised were comprehensive enough =)
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