Al Jazeera Journalism Review
Safety Strategies Female Journalists Use in Hostile Environments
Female journalists across Africa face layered physical, gender-based, digital, and psychological risks while covering protests, elections, conflict, and crises, forcing them to rely on hard-earned survival strategies as much as newsroom support.
Latest Articles
Examining the imagery of women during wartime
ANALYSIS: Some images of women in Ukraine have gone viral in the past week. But what do these specific images add to the narrative surrounding the Russian invasion and what of the women who don’t fit the media image of the “ideal” female?
Investigating racist conviction laws in America - and seeing a man freed after 25 years
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: How a team of journalists spent nearly a year investigating the conviction and 25-year imprisonment of Brandon Jackson and then watched him walk free
![A woman and a child wait for a call to cross the passport control after arriving in a train from Kyiv at the Przemysl main train station on February 27, 2022 in Przemysl, Poland. [Omar Marques/Getty Images]](/sites/default/files/ajr/2022/ResizeGettyImages-1373177290.jpg)
‘Heroes’ and ‘worthy’ refugees - the hypocrisy of Western media over Ukraine
While news anchors marvel at how refugees from Ukraine are ‘just like us’ and glorify women taking up Kalashnikovs against Russian invaders, we compare their treatment with that of Syrian and Afghan refugees, and Palestinian resistors
‘You must know how to haggle!’ - racism in journalism starts in the classroom
Even though I didn’t choose to, I quickly became that one ‘annoying’ journalist of colour who had to keep mentioning racism in my journalism school. It was humiliating and exhausting, to the point of nearly quitting
Reporter’s Notebook - on the trail of Boko Haram
For one journalist in Nigeria, covering the activities of the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, primarily means documenting the horrifying stories of its victims, sometimes to his own cost
Avoiding mistakes in the newsroom - verifying video from external sources
When video of Osama Bin Laden surfaced around the time of the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001, many people questioned its credibility. We examine how Al Jazeera verifies the authenticity of outside materials, much of it produced by 'citizen journalists'
Opinion
Anam Hussain
US-Iran Islamabad Talks: How Journalists Report from Outside Closed Doors
The "Islamabad Talks" highlight a growing contradiction in modern diplomacy where journalists are physically present but denied direct access to negotiations. The pressure on transparency appears…
Bashar Hamdan
Can Artificial Intelligence Become a Documentary Film Director?
AI opens new possibilities in documentary filmmaking, from sorting archives to speeding up production. But documentary is not built on technology alone: it depends on the director’s vision,…
Derick Matsengarwodzi
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…
Diaries
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.
Journalism in Gaza… A Race Against the Train of Genocide
In the following account, Amira Nassar presents a narrative filled with intricate detail, intimate exchanges, and an unyielding struggle over the meaning of writing amid slaughter and starvation. Part of The Journalism Review’s documentary project recording the testimonies of journalists in Palestine and the Gaza Strip during the ongoing genocide, it stands as a testament against oblivion and the machinery of extermination.
From News Reporting to Documentation: Practical Lessons from Covering the War on Gaza
From the very first moment of the genocidal war waged by Israel on Gaza, Al Jazeera correspondent Hisham Zaqout has been a witness to hunger, devastation, war crimes, and the assassination of his colleagues in the field. It is a battle for survival and documentation, one that goes beyond mere coverage and daily reporting.
Reports
Safety Strategies Female Journalists Use in Hostile Environments
Female journalists across Africa face layered physical, gender-based, digital, and psychological risks while covering protests, elections, conflict, and crises, forcing them to rely on hard-earned survival strategies as much as newsroom support.
The Afterlife of an Image: How Photojournalism Contests Shape Visibility and Responsibility
As photojournalism contests elevate certain images to global prominence, they also influence how violence, dignity, and memory are constructed in the public imagination.
Malawi Investigates Poor Pay and Working Conditions for Junior Journalists
Malawi’s investigation into poor pay for junior journalists exposes a deeper crisis where economic hardship is eroding media independence and forcing reporters to choose between ethical integrity and survival.
Journalism as a Struggle for Survival in Sudan
With war erupting in Sudan, the country’s media landscape collapsed almost overnight after the Rapid Support Forces entered Khartoum. Many journalists were left without jobs, salaries or shelter, scattered between displacement, exile and siege, as newspapers shut down and media institutions ceased to function. For many, journalism was no longer a profession but a daily struggle for survival.
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.
