'It would have stolen valuable time': RNZ removes genocide references
'It would have stolen valuable time': RNZ removes genocide references
NZ's broadcaster defends its decision to not broadcast a Palestinian guest's remarks, but UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese warns the term should be used frequently.
This story was first published by Consortium News
Radio New Zealand (RNZ) has justified removing references to “genocide” unfolding in Gaza made by a Palestinian guest on a podcast because it would have otherwise “stolen valuable time”.
The national broadcaster’s In Detail podcast Fear and trauma from a world away featured interviews with Palestinian-New Zealander Tameem Shaltoni, who has relatives in Gaza, and Ben Kepes, a New Zealand tech businessman and son of holocaust survivors from eastern Europe.
The podcast, published on November 7, explored how the “Israel-Hamas war” had impacted on them both, as well as their respective views on catastrophic events in occupied Palestine and Israel since Hamas broke out of Gaza’s confines and attacked settlements and military installations on October 7.
Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood left 1200 dead, according to Israel. Israel’s response in laying total siege to Gaza and launching a bombing campaign that has so far left nearly 15,000 dead, including at least 6000 children over the past six weeks.
A ‘humanitarian’ pause was agreed on November 23 for four days to facilitate a hostage exchange deal and deliver aid to Gazans, as they face the threat of starvation and disease.
After the RNZ podcast and accompanying website story were published on November 9, Shaltoni took to X (Twitter) to voice his concern that his repeated references to “genocide” being committed in Gaza had been removed.
He said he had been told by the podcast journalist his interview would be subject to RNZ media policy guidelines and that this would be reflected in the editing process.
He repeated his concerns on weekly political podcast 1 of 200, stating his view media didn’t want to countenance the idea of genocide because it contradicted the Western narrative that there was a war between Israel and non-state actor Hamas.
Activist platform, the Aotearoa Liberation League, contacted RNZ to ask what broadcasting guideline had been used to remove references to the term. In a reply seen by In Context, RNZ head of content Megan Whelan said its guidelines were publicly available to read and that claims of genocide were simply “outside the ambit” of the podcast in question. Whelan said:
“For this podcast, the purpose, which was shared in advance with all participants, was to provide a New Zealand audience with an insight into what is like living in New Zealand while there is a war in your homeland. This podcast’s focus was therefore on personal, firsthand experiences. It was also made clear to all participants that podcasts are edited and curated pieces.”
Whelan said no participant had the right to veto decisions of the podcast’s producer and suggested airing references to genocide would have been editorially troublesome.
“To have included the claims of genocide would have stolen valuable time away from the guests as it would have meant defining genocide, providing context for the listener and offering a right of reply.”
Zionist makes contested statements
In contrast, Zionist guest Kepes, who described himself as an ethnic, non-religious Jew, was allowed to introduce highly-contested Israeli talking points and make accusations about those who attended Palestinian solidarity rallies in New Zealand, without evidence or context added.
Kepes claimed protestors had chanted “gas the Jews” as they marched down Auckland’s Queen Street.
He said he knew people who were “almost housebound with fear” in New Zealand because they did not want to be identified as a Jew and that police had heightened security measures for others. He added he felt safer in a bomb shelter when he lived in Israel than living in New Zealand where he said the threat was “much more insidious”.
“I’m not denying Palestinian angst,” he said.
“I absolutely accept that the Palestinians have been hard done by their own co-religionists and Israel and I’m more than happy to have that conversation, but that is a distinctly different thing from someone saying that because I’m Jewish I deserve to die.”
Kepes also claimed Iran was the regional “puppet master” who had “engineered this war” using Hamas, implying that it bore responsibility for the current crisis.
Iranian leaders have signalled a reluctance to play any role that could potentially lead to a regional conflagration and a possible world war. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told CBS News Hamas made its own decisions and carried out its October 7 operation without its knowledge, but his government supported Hamas’ right under international law to violently resist Israeli occupation.
No right of reply was offered by RNZ to Kepes’ comments.
Whelan said RNZ took “no editorial stand in its news or factual output” and pointed to three Reuters stories on its website she said dealt with genocide “claims”. She added that views were reported according to their news worthiness and significance.
‘Textbook case of genocide’
There have been warnings of an unfolding genocide against Palestinians for several weeks now. In the latest of four statements on the subject, UN Special Rapporteurs said there was evidence of an intent to “destroy the Palestinian people” and that the West was failing to stop it.
“Many of us already raised the alarm about the risk of genocide in Gaza,” experts said on November 18.
“We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel’s strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza, and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide.”
Israeli ministers have signposted their intent with multiple statements dehumanising Palestinians and attributing collective guilt on all Gazans for the October 7 attack.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant October 9 said Israel was dealing with “human animals” who would be treated as such, as a total siege of the 25-mile by 5-mile strip was announced six weeks ago.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said “an entire nation” was responsible for the Hamas attack. Israel’s senior army officials framed Hamas as Nazis and its attack a holocaust, a position reinforced by US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders, signalling that all means to defeat Hamas were permissible.
They also emphasised the military goal in Gaza was destruction not accuracy.
Since then, over 20,000 tonnes of explosives have landed on Gaza, leaving half of all buildings destroyed, agricultural land, bakeries and hospitals bombed, and over 14,000 dead, mostly women and children. An estimated 1.7 million people have been displaced, with residents forced from the north to the south of Gaza, while it too is being bombed.
After earlier promising to turn Gaza to rubble, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared the strip to Amalek at the beginning of the ground invasion on October 29, a biblical reference where Yahweh commands King Saul to put to death every man, woman, child and infant in an act of total destruction.
A leaked Israel ‘concept’ document revealed a plan to displace and force Gazans into tent cities in Egypt’s Sinai desert. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also backed calls by Israeli MPs for Western countries to accept families who expressed a desire to relocate.
UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who made a flying visit to Auckland and Wellington this week, told In Context genocide occurred when there was an intent to destroy a religious, ethnic, national or racial group, in full or in part.
“There are a number of acts that constitute genocide,” she said.
“For example, the act of killing of the members of the group, the severe physical and psychological harm inflicted to the members of the group or the creation of circumstances that might lead to the destruction of the group, in full or in part. These are the three cases that are clearly identifiable in the case of Gaza and there has been a clear declared intent.”
She said there was an obligation on states, including New Zealand, to speak out against genocide and believed the word should be used repeatedly in the media.
“I think that the word should be used because the 1948 Genocide Convention poses an obligation to prevent it, when there is a risk of genocide being committed and member states have to intervene and have to stop atrocities and crimes that may amount to genocide.”
New Zealand ratified the Convention in December 1978.
“The media have notoriously played a role in certain contexts in not being accurate and probably either underestimating the risk or even amplifying, in certain contexts, genocidal calls and incitement to genocide,” Albanese added.
Her position is reflected widely among those in legal and academic circles specialising in international humanitarian law.
Israeli associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Stockton University in the US, Raz Segal, said both the intent of Israel and the dynamics of violence make Israel’s onslaught in Gaza “a textbook case of genocide”. He told UK commentator Owen Jones on November 22:
“If you take all the elements of intent, dehumanising language, portraying Palestinians as a whole as enemies, human animals - think about the discourse of human shields, which is incredibly important to note here are humanised only as the appear as human shields, which is of course incredibly dehumanising - when you take all of this together, with the dynamics of violence, what we see on the ground is very clear… the killing is genocidal.”
Segal said with the siege, alongside the bombing and displacement of residents, Israel had created the conditions calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.
Broadcasters face rising criticism over coverage
RNZ’s coverage is part of a trend among national broadcasters in the Anglosphere.
The BBC was accused of editing out multiple calls for a ceasefire in Gaza in its coverage of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) ceremony in Glasgow on November 20 (NZT). On November 24 Al Jazeera reported that eight BBC journalists had sent it a 2300-word letter accusing its employer of failing to accurately cover events in Gaza “through omission and lack of critical engagement with Israel’s claims”. In October, The Times reported staffers at the broadcaster had been crying in toilets and had taken time off work, upset at the BBC’s double standards when reporting on the conflict.
There have been similar reports of unrest within the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). On November 8, the Sydney Morning Herald reported a mass meeting of over 200 ABC journalists that saw staff raise complaints about managers mis-framing what was happening in Gaza and that the news outlet had refused to use accurate terms like ‘apartheid’, ‘war crimes’ and ‘genocide’. ABC established an advisory panel to look into the complaints.
ABC boss David Anderson subsequently accused staff of wanting to inappropriately engage in political activism. Some of Anderson’s critics have countered that he expected staff to remain stenographers of Western power, framing events in Gaza uncritically and without proper context, while maintaining a passive editorial stance that runs contrary to the notion of public-interest journalism challenging and holding power to account.
RNZ’s has news-sharing agreements with both ABC and BBC and republishes the outlets’ stories on its website.
Well Mick, how's the form? Sorry to hear about your troubles with the job.
Excellent stuff, could be a little tighter? I’m afraid our attention span is shrinking rapidly 🥹