the redeemable, the evil, and the dead

On 10 August, 2025, Israel intentionally murdered six journalists: Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, and Mohammed Noufal, from Al Jazeera, and the freelancers Moamen Aliwa and Mohammed al-Khaldi. They were working in a tent used by journalists in the area, just outside al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The following day, Israel attacked Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, killing 21 people, including 5 journalists.

All of the four Al Jazeera journalists murdered on August 10 were from Gaza, three were born in refugee camps, and at least three of them had immediate family members—mothers, fathers, and brothers—killed by Israeli forces in the ongoing war. The Israeli military admitted it intentionally targeted the journalists in order to kill Anas al-Sharif. Al-Sharif was a well known, tireless journalist, but the IDF claimed he was the leader of a Hamas brigade. They promised they had indisputable evidence of their claim. Media all over the world repeated Israel’s claim, even though no one saw the supposed evidence. And even though Israel has been caught lying on a daily basis throughout this war.

Far beyond this one war, government sources tend to be the most common sources quoted by the media. They are also frequently dishonest, inaccurate, or meaninglessly ambiguous: if government spokespeople say anything factual and true it’s when telling part of the truth happens to coincide with their interests. Governments at war see the media as a weapon and they use media to spread their propaganda.

It seems unethical, to put it lightly, for journalists to quote sources like the US or Israeli governments without letting their readers know these are not credible sources. It also seems to fly in the face of journalism’s ostensible purpose when they spread information that is demonstrably false, or spread a truth and a lie as two competing opinions, as though it were impossible to do the research and find out which version is more accurate.

Do we believe the version of the truth spread by these human rights organizations, or do we prefer the US government’s version of the truth? You choose! With the mainstream media’s approach to truth and credibility, the reality you build for yourself is just a lifestyle choice in the marketplace of ideas, slowly sliding towards a loyalty test between one mainstream political current and another.

Is there any point to