Journalist Arwa Damon — who has spent two decades reporting on war for CNN — said that “journalists need to do a better job at reporting the truth”.

“As a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry — two decades spent mainly covering war and violence — I can attest to that and how each ‘side’ is trying to lure and manipulate with their messaging — what some might even call propaganda. I can attest to how each ‘side’ will lie or try to cover up the truth, even when a “side” claims to have a higher moral standing.”

Regarding the recent media coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict, Damon stated that “we’re catapulting ourselves toward this abyss of sheer and utter inhumane madness”.

She recounted the “hatred and vitriol spewed towards Muslims and people of Middle Eastern and North African descent” after the events of 9/11 in the US. Watching media coverage that “lacked nuance and understanding” while spreading racist generalisations against Muslims pushed her to become a journalist.

The veteran journalist stressed that analysts need to “break down the information war and how it plays and preys on emotions and trauma” breaking down terms like “human animals,” “rats,” and “children of light versus children of darkness”.

“We cannot allow this to happen again. As the media, we cannot let ourselves be a pawn in a dehumanisation campaign,” she added.

“All media outlets need to rise above this notion that, if you cover a person’s pain, you somehow take a “side.” Pain is pain. We must be allowed to see the pain of our ‘enemy’.”

Read the full article here.