This week's Behind the Headlines comes from managing editor Stewart Ward – to receive this newsletter direct to your inbox every week, click here to sign up.
“MOST UK newspapers have aggressively supported the war crimes being committed against Gaza. Any media outlet which challenges this narrative is showing courage – and building public pressure to end this nightmare. So massive kudos to @ScotNational for its brave coverage.”
That was the verdict of well-known media commentator Owen Jones on The National’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Most UK newspapers have aggressively supporting the war crimes being committed against Gaza.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) October 26, 2023
Any media outlet which challenges this narrative is showing courage - and building public pressure to end this nightmare.
So massive kudos to @ScotNational for its brave coverage ❤️ https://t.co/beLq1ASoz1
Though we’d rather a ceasefire was agreed right now and that hostages were released, and that we could be reporting instead on productive next steps rather than the nightmare we are witnessing, what Owen recognised is the fact we will not shy away in our coverage of this conflict.
As a news organisation, that should go without saying – but apparently it doesn’t. The BBC, for example, entirely failed to mention the pro-Palestine marches happening in Scotland in one of its reports.
Our letters pages reveal the heartbreak of The National’s audience at what they are seeing unfold. Our commitment is to continue providing all the facts to you, our readers, to make sure you are up to date on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the responses of the Scottish and UK governments.
From the horrific loss of civilian lives when Hamas first attacked to the aid crisis now gripping Palestinians and the risk of the conflict spiralling into other areas of the Middle East, we’ve had expert contributors providing essential analysis from day one and will continue to do so. That includes from our foreign correspondent David Pratt, and we have much more coming, including on the wider consequences, covered by the likes of Sarah Glynn.
We’ve published exclusive audio from Gaza, revealing the harrowing stories of the Palestinians there.
"I just wish it won't be my death day," Fidaa Al-Araj's daughter said ahead of her 12th birthday. “I wish I won’t be martyred or targeted by a rocket. And that people wouldn’t have to say: ‘Wow. She was killed on the same day she was born.'”
It’s harrowing times like these that expose the true measure of our politicians. The on-the-fence politics of Keir Starmer has proven entirely unfit for the challenge at hand – and that, too, has formed an important part of our news agenda.
This is the man likely to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and so we have a duty to inform our readers of exactly how he has responded and continues to respond, and of the gag order his own members are hitting out at.
The National is used to being an outlier in the media. We are able to do this thanks to the support of readers such as yourself – thanks to those who purchase our newspaper and subscribe to our website.
Because of that support, you can be sure we’ll continue to provide crucial journalism across our platforms.
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We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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