Political Pressure and Journalistic Independence in Reporting on the Conflict in Gaza, Palestine

Abstract

The Gaza War since October 2023 has become a dangerous context for modern journalists, with increasing killings, censorship, and widespread restrictions on access to information. This study aims to analyze the forms of political pressure on journalists in their coverage of the Gaza conflict and its impact on journalistic independence. Using a descriptive qualitative approach, data was collected from the coverage of four international media outlets BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian from 2023 to 2024, and reinforced by reports from international institutions such as CPJ and RSF. Qualitative content analysis used Robert N. Entman's (1993) framing model to identify patterns of reality construction and indications of political intervention. The results show that political pressure on journalists is multi-layered: it stems from state and military policies (access restrictions and field censorship), ideological interests within media editorial structures, and biased digital content moderation on Palestinian issues. This pressure affects journalists' freedom in determining the narrative, framing, and distribution of news, thereby limiting journalistic independence and making it negotiable. However, journalists demonstrate resilience strategies through cross-media collaboration, collective verification, and the use of open source intelligence (OSINT) technology. These findings confirm that press independence in the era of modern conflict is not only determined by individual courage, but also by the infrastructure of global information freedom and the transparency of digital platforms. This research is expected to contribute theoretically to the study of political communication and conflict journalism, as well as to policy recommendations for the protection of journalists and transparency in digital content moderation in the future.