Palestinian journalists honoured with RTS special recognition award for their courage in covering the Gaza conflict [Getty]
The UK’s Royal Television Society (RTS) paid tribute to Palestinian journalists in Gaza with a special recognition award during Tuesday’s RTS Programme Awards, following outrage over the abrupt cancellation of the award category.
The show, which honoured several acclaimed figures in the UK television industry, opened with a ceremony highlighting the work of Palestinian journalists in their coverage of the 17-month long Israeli military campaign on Gaza.
In a statement, RTS said that Gaza’s journalists were honoured “with a Special Award from the RTS Television Journalism Awards, for their courage and commitment as they face extraordinary danger reporting from Gaza.”
The accolade comes after US entertainment outlet Deadline reported that the British media body had initially axed the award, which was intended to be presented during the Television Journalism Awards earlier this month, due to controversy surrounding the BBC documentary Gaza: How to Survive in a War Zone, which was removed from the BBC iPlayer platform under pro-Israel pressure.
The news led to intensifying condemnation within the media industry, culminating in a petition signed by over 370 prominent figures, including veteran broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby and Channel 4’s Krishnan Guru-Murthy, who called for the award to be reinstated.
On 14 March, the RTS declared that it would officially restore the special recognition award in response to the open letter.
Following the award win on Tuesday, users took to social media to share their views, with opinions mixed.
“The RTS, after pressure, finally gives its delayed award to the journalists of Gaza. But, [actually] to those in the room, nobody was invited to accept it, no Palestinian voice was heard, the word Israel was not uttered, and they didn’t even mention the number of journalists killed,” Irish journalist Barry Malone wrote in a post on X.
On the other hand, Sky News correspondent Alex Crawford wrote, “As the number of Palestinian journalists killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza keeps on rising…it might seem paltry to talk of awards, but this is symbolically important, especially after pressure was exerted on RTS to drop this recognition.”
Award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Yousef Hammash issued a lengthy statement on his page on X, sharing his response to the RTS recognition award and calling on his peers to advocate for stronger protections for Gaza’s journalists, following the recent killing of Al Jazeera’s Hossam Shabat and Palestine Today’s Mohammad Mansour in a devastating Israeli attack.
“Gaza’s journalists deserve infinitely more than a handshake of an award. They need more from groups consumed by fear of adding ‘fuel to the fire’,” Hammash stressed.
“They deserve real change, true advocacy, and tangible protections – including calls for the ongoing ban on international journalists to be lifted.”
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Israel’s war on Gaza killed more journalists last year alone than any other conflict over the past three decades.
Following Israel’s resumption of attacks on the war-battered Palestinian enclave, shattering a two-month ceasefire, over 800 Palestinians have been killed since 18 March- with Tuesday’s assault claiming at least 65 lives, including those of journalists Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, 208 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the outbreak of the war in October 2023.
