New oral history project eulogises slain Palestinian journalists via friends' voice notes

The website launching of "The Living Record" project coincides with the first anniversary of the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif by an Israeli air strike. Al-Sharif was a 28-year-old journalist who had previously helped Reuters win a Pulitzer Prize. However, many news organizations have chosen to remember him within the context of Israel's unproven narrative about him, rather than focusing on his personal story and experiences.

The new project aims to rectify this by telling the stories of slain Palestinian journalists through the voices of their colleagues. The oral history site has launched with eulogies for 50 journalists, with more to be added later in the year. This project is a large-scale record of the failure of mainstream media, international institutions, and western media to protect individuals as governed by international law.

The voice notes on the site range from journalists who sound broken but steadfast to others who speak directly to their slain friends. As of now, at least 270 Palestinian media workers have been killed by Israel in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate. However, the Committee to Protect Journalists has a lower count of 209 dead, as they have removed 20 journalists from their database after militant groups identified them as combatants.

The mainstream media in the US and Canada has largely defaulted to CPJ for the figures, contributing to the erasure and distortion of Israeli war crimes in Gaza.