Global media blackout targets Israel as foreign ministry condemns ‘political manifesto’

Israeli officials insisted that reporting on Gaza has largely echoed “the campaign of lies that Hamas spreads” and argued that the blackout was political, not journalistic.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A coordinated global media blackout was launched this week, with more than 250 outlets in over 70 countries pausing coverage or publishing blacked-out editions in protest over journalist deaths in Gaza.

The campaign was organized by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and the activist network Avaaz.

Participating print publications were encouraged to publish front pages in black, either with or without a unified message.

Online outlets were asked to run banners across their sites, while broadcasters were urged to display a black screen with a metronome sound and the statement: “At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no one left to keep you informed.”

According to RSF, at least 210 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, after which Israel barred foreign reporters from entering the Strip.

RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin said, “At the rate at which journalists are being killed in Gaza by the IDF, soon there will be no one left to keep the world informed. This is not only a war on Gaza, it is a war on journalism itself.”

Andrew Legon of Avaaz accused Israel’s government of trying “to finish the job in the dark, without the scrutiny of the press,” while IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger called for a UN convention on journalist safety, stressing that each casualty represented a colleague, friend, or family member.

The campaign included well-known European outlets such as El País, La Vanguardia, Taz, and The Independent. RSF described the effort as a show of solidarity among journalists, with individuals also posting blacked-out messages on social media.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the initiative, saying the blackout revealed entrenched bias. “When 150 media outlets choose in a synchronized manner to stop reporting news, to throw values of the press and plurality of opinions into the trash, and instead publish a uniform, pre-scripted political manifesto against Israel – that tells you how great the bias against Israel is in the global media,” the ministry said in a statement.

Officials insisted that reporting on Gaza has largely echoed “the campaign of lies that Hamas spreads” and argued that the blackout was political, not journalistic.