"Given that the article is about the encampments at American universities, it would make your article more balanced to describe the subject of their protests in their terms. At the minimum, Columbia University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment's clearly stated demands should be reported at the beginning of the article."
April 23,2024
To:
Julie Pace, Executive Editor, The Associated Press
John Daniszewski, Standards Editor, The Associated Press
Dear Julie Pace and John Daniszewski,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to express a small concern regarding a recent article titled “Columbia switches to hybrid learning amid protests over Israel’s war in Gaza,” published on April 23 in the Associated Press.
The first sentence of your article reads:
Columbia University’s main campus will switch to hybrid learning for the rest of the semester amid protests over Israel’s war with Hamas that have roiled colleges across the U.S., officials announced.
I urge The Associated Press to reconsider the use of the term “Israel-Hamas War” or “Israel’s war with Hamas.” As mass graves of women, children, and doctors are being discovered, among other war crimes, phrases that constrain Israel’s onslaught of violence to “fighting” Hamas become increasingly obsolete, inaccurate, and journalistically irresponsible.
As such, it is factually inaccurate to write that protests at Columbia’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment are “over Israel’s war with Hamas.” Given that the article is about the encampments at American universities, it would make your article more balanced to describe the subject of their protests in their terms. At the minimum, Columbia University’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment's clearly stated demands should be reported at the beginning of the article.
Thank you for making this edit promptly as it is a question of maintaining minimum journalistic standards. As stated previously, I urge the editors at AP to reconsider its widespread use of the term “Israel’s war with Hamas.”
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East