Al Jazeera Journalism Review
Who Decides the News? Inside India's Algorithm-Driven Newsrooms
For decades, editors acted as journalism's gatekeepers, deciding which stories mattered based on evidence, public interest and professional ethics. Today, many young reporters say that role has increasingly been assumed by recommendation algorithms, software designed not to identify what is important, but what is most likely to keep audiences scrolling… As news organisations compete for audience attention on digital platforms, metrics such as engagement and follower growth are increasingly influencing editorial strategy.
Latest Articles
When Speaking Up Backfires: How Social Conformity Silences Journalists
While state censorship remains a reality, freedom of speech in Africa faces a rising internal threat: the community itself. This article examines how social conformity, digital echo chambers, and ingrained bias create a modern "chilling effect". This pressure forces journalists to choose between aligning with popular narratives or facing professional and social marginalisation.
From Print to Pixels: How Small-Town Journalists in Bihar Are Surviving Threats and Closures
As newspapers vanish across districts like Siwan, Gaya, and Purnea, reporters turn to mobile phones, digital start-ups and community networks to keep local journalism alive.
Arab Society and Investigative Journalism: The Dialectic of Culture, Power, and Profession
Investigative journalism in Arab societies operates within a dense web of social, political, and cultural pressures that often push journalists to balance truth-telling against survival, forcing them onto a precarious “razor’s edge.” Yet despite these constraints, moments of crisis can transform society itself from a source of pressure into a powerful ally, driving accountability and reigniting the pursuit of truth.
The Revolution That Framed Islam: How 1979 Shaped Western Media on Iran
The 1979 Revolution transformed how the Western world views and reports on Islam. What started as a confused attempt to understand a new religious movement has turned into a permanent media habit of framing Iran through the lens of conflict and suspicion.
AI, Copyright Reform and the Fragile Reinvention of Indian Journalism
India’s proposed AI copyright framework risks turning independent journalism into a pooled data resource, undermining the subscription-based models that sustain it. At a moment of political and economic fragility, the struggle over AI licensing is ultimately a struggle over who controls, values, and profits from journalistic work.
The Challenge of Reporting in Chechnya
Independent journalism no longer exists as a functioning practice inside Chechnya. What remains is a profession rebuilt in exile, forced to operate at a distance from the very place it is meant to cover.
Opinion
Anas al-Sharif
Anas al-Sharif: “I am the owner of a cause before I am a journalist”
From documenting the occupation's crimes on social media platforms to covering the war of genocide on Al Jazeera, journalist Anas Al-Sharif defied harsh field conditions and the lenses of snipers…
Nasser Adnan Thabet
As in Rwanda: Can the Israeli Press Be Prosecuted for Participation in Genocide?
Israeli media incitement has helped frame Palestinian journalists as security threats, weakening their legal and professional protection and legitimising attacks against them. Legal accountability…
Jean-Pierre Afadhali
Can Africa’s Media Decolonise Climate Story?
Despite efforts in combating climate change and finding climate solutions in the Africa, the continent’s climate story is still told through the lens of colonisation. The dominant stories centre…
Diaries
Anas al-Sharif: “I am the owner of a cause before I am a journalist”
From documenting the occupation's crimes on social media platforms to covering the war of genocide on Al Jazeera, journalist Anas Al-Sharif defied harsh field conditions and the lenses of snipers. He lost his father and a number of his loved ones, yet he chose to convey the "Palestinian narrative to the world." In this interview, we get to know the face and features of a Palestinian journalist stripped of protection and faithful to the belief that "coverage continues."
In Gaza… Testimonies That Have Not Been Told
Beyond the frontline dangers, reporting during the Israeli war involves enduring arrest, torture, systematic incitement, and assassination. This reality forces journalists into a relentless struggle to keep reporting from the depths of mass displacement, starvation, and a complete breakdown of daily infrastructure.
Journalism in Gaza: A Struggle for Survival
In Gaza, journalism becomes inseparable from the life it documents: reporting continues not from a distance, but from within the same fear, grief, and instability it tries to record.
Reports
Who Decides the News? Inside India's Algorithm-Driven Newsrooms
For decades, editors acted as journalism's gatekeepers, deciding which stories mattered based on evidence, public interest and professional ethics. Today, many young reporters say that role has increasingly been assumed by recommendation algorithms, software designed not to identify what is important, but what is most likely to keep audiences scrolling… As news organisations compete for audience attention on digital platforms, metrics such as engagement and follower growth are increasingly influencing editorial strategy.
As in Rwanda: Can the Israeli Press Be Prosecuted for Participation in Genocide?
Israeli media incitement has helped frame Palestinian journalists as security threats, weakening their legal and professional protection and legitimising attacks against them. Legal accountability is possible through the ICC, universal jurisdiction, and professional pressure against journalists and outlets that incite violence.
A Soldier with the Rank of Correspondent in the Israeli Army
Israeli military journalism developed through a deep fusion of media, censorship, and the army, turning correspondents into carriers of the official security narrative. This embedded model later influenced Western war reporting, where access to the battlefield often came at the cost of independence and critical distance.
The Phenomenon of “News Avoidance”: Have We Come to Know More Than We Should?
Audiences are increasingly avoiding the news as the constant flow of crises, violence, and tragic human stories creates psychological exhaustion and anxiety. Media outlets need to respond with more responsible editorial choices, stronger media literacy, and coverage that balances urgent events with constructive, humane, and less harmful storytelling.
From Srulik to Handala: Caricature as a Media Symbol
From the pro-occupation Israeli character 'Srulik' to the resilient and satirical Palestinian 'Handala', caricature emerges as another battleground for memory and the future. How did these characters come to be, what is their media symbolism, and why does caricature remain so influential?
“Sometimes You Work for Years Without Pay” – Cameroonian Journalists Demand Safety Nets
While many journalists demonstrate admirable resilience in producing quality journalism under precarious conditions, resilience should not be the only safety net. Journalism deserves protection, because democracy depends on it.
