Inside Geneva — "War and the Press" (Nov 11, 2025)

Podcast: Inside Geneva (SWI swissinfo.ch)
Host: Imogen Foulkes
Main Guests: Nick Cumming (New York Times contributor), Mehran Rapoport (Israeli journalist, +972 Magazine), James Elder (UNICEF), Rick Peeperkorn (WHO), Irene Khan (UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression)

Overview

This episode delves into the immense challenges, dangers, and ethical dilemmas facing the press covering the current Israel-Gaza war. Host Imogen Foulkes, reporting from Geneva, is joined by colleagues and international guests to explore how access is being tightly controlled, unprecedented numbers of journalists have been killed, and whether global media, humanitarian agencies, and international law can do better to ensure accountability, accurate reporting, and the protection of journalists in conflict zones.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Unprecedented Restrictions on Press Access

• Sealed Borders:
  • For the first time since World War II, Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza.
    • Mehran Rapoport: “For the first time, I think since World War II, Israel did not allow foreign journalists to come in to Gaza. This is unprecedented.” [00:29]
• Dependence on Local Journalists:
  • Information comes almost exclusively from Palestinian reporters inside Gaza, many of whom have died.
    • “The number of Palestinian journalists killed… is really a huge number… We depended totally. The only information we got is from Palestinian journalists who were very limited in their ability to move…” – Mehran Rapoport [09:26]
• Numbers Killed:
  • Committee to Protect Journalists estimates around 200 Palestinian journalists killed in the conflict. [00:54, 27:25]

2. Dangers, Accountability, and "The Fog of War"

• Hazards of Reporting:
  • The show opens with a moving account of how war reporting has always been risky—referencing journalists like Marie Colvin and personal experiences in conflict zones.
    • Nick Cumming: "The challenges of reporting… begged the question of who exactly was doing it and why. Was it spontaneous...or carefully planned?" [03:09]
  • Imogen's Kosovo anecdote highlights the necessity of firsthand reporting versus briefings far from the front lines. [04:14]
  • "Fog of war" makes discerning truth from propaganda extremely difficult, especially without independent media access. [04:14, 33:43]
• Accountability for Attacks on Journalists:
  • Israel’s denial of access and number of journalists killed is cited as a way to avoid scrutiny.
    • Nick Cumming: “Journalists have always had access to wars… but in this conflict, Israel has essentially hermetically sealed Gaza… which is a rather brutal irony given the Israeli military’s record of killing journalists.” [06:52]
  • Past killings (e.g., Shireen Abu Akleh, James Miller) remain unaccounted for. [27:25]

3. Ethical Dilemmas: Media Responses & Calls for Boycott

• Calls for Press Resistance:
  • Mehran Rapoport suggests international media should have refused to report Israeli government statements until allowed access.
    • “I would suggest that international media should have told Israel that we will not take any comment from Israeli government unless you let us go in.” [09:26]
    • Expanded: "BBC, American networks are strong enough. Israel would have considered the next day...There was a lack of consistency here by the international media. They just gave up and waited for Israel." [11:20]
• Pushback:
  • Both Imogen Foulkes and Nick Cumming doubt the feasibility, noting the difficulty of unified resistance among major networks, and the importance of still talking to all parties.
    • Nick Cumming: "I question whether their position would change… if some networks refused and others did not, I don’t see that would be sufficient consensus to sway the IDF..." [12:52]

4. The Role and Frustrations of Humanitarian Agencies

• Eyewitness Reporting:
  • With direct media access blocked, journalists rely heavily on reports from UN agencies with staff in Gaza.
    • Imogen: “Here… we talk and interview on a regular basis people who do go to Gaza… and I have found that very, very valuable…” [13:36]
• Data and Testimony:
  • UNICEF’s James Elder and WHO’s Rick Peeperkorn share the urgency and frustration over their unheeded, evidence-based accounts from the ground.
    • James Elder: “Now, in that time, we've reported on a war on children, a famine and a polio outbreak. Always, always and only with data and testimonials.” [16:55]
    • “What makes it ever more devastating is…even when its past denials are shown to be false, demonstrably false, that voice is still somehow treated as indispensable in balancing a story. Now, that's giving a platform to those engineering starvation. That's a real problem.” [18:37]
    • Rick Peeperkorn: “I've seen and I've witnessed the children. I talked to the mothers and fathers…This child is 2 years old. I mean, they look like 2 years old and they're 4 or 5 years old.” [17:43]

5. Balancing "Both Sides" in Media Narratives

• Fairness or False Equivalence?
  • Both Mehran and James Elder argue media balance requirements sometimes give undue legitimacy to misleading or disproven Israeli assertions.
    • Mehran: “You want to set rules of the game that are completely in favor of Israel. We don't accept it.” [11:20]
    • James Elder: “Now, that's giving a platform to those engineering starvation. That's a real problem.” [18:37]
• Media's Limits and Political Inaction:
  • Nick Cumming: Even with significant reporting on atrocities, political leaders still fail to act.
    • “...there has been large amounts of reporting detailing the abuses...and even with that...politicians have not been taking up the cudgels...” [20:14]

6. International Law, Rights, and Precedent Setting

• Access as a Legal Issue:
  • Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur, warns that denying full access is not only unprecedented, but could set a dangerous global precedent.
    • “What you're really doing is...seeking to totally control the narrative...It just goes against anything that we know about international rules of behavior when it comes to media.” [22:44]
    • “Actually, at this point, it is a cover up of genocide.” [22:44]
• Calls for Stronger Legal Protections:
  • Khan is working on a UN project to strengthen access and protection for journalists as essential workers in war.
    • “Journalists should have full and free access to areas of conflict...At the moment...if you wear a jacket marked press, it doesn't protect you — it actually makes you a target. That is just unacceptable.” [24:01]
• Skepticism about Legal Reform:
  • Nick Cumming doubts new rules can help if parties ignore existing ones.
    • “I’m not sure that any new kind of regulation... is going to make life safer...where there is not an intention...to observe it...” [25:47]
    • “What we need is accountability where these abuses occur, and that has been conspicuously lacking.” [27:25]
• Setting Global Precedents:
  • Mehran Rapoport voices concern that other governments may adopt these tactics, closing off conflicts to scrutiny.
    • “Tomorrow the US will invade Venezuela...and they will not allow journalists to go in and report independently and kill the local journalists. Why not?” [28:38]
    • “This is a conflict that has become the most important conflict in the world...So why should the US..., not adopt the main policy and tell international press? No, you went silent when Israel did it. Why are you harassing us?” [28:38]

7. The Future of Journalism in War Zones

• AI and Information Manipulation:
  • Rapoport worries that without trusted reporters on the ground, misinformation and manipulation will flourish.
    • “...with new media there are such a vast amount of information AI made and without journalists going...reliable journalists going to the ground, ...everything could be manipulated. And I think this is a great danger...” [30:08]
• Technological Changes & Open Source Evidence:
  • Nick Cumming highlights the increased potential for using open-source info—satellite imagery, citizen videos—including its verification challenges.
    • "There is access to satellite imagery... evidence available through social media, through citizen journalists... which is absolutely making it difficult to hide completely what is going on on the ground." [31:52, 33:43]
    • “But...there is such a huge welter of information out there online. Some of it...is citizen journalism, but some of it's propaganda...this does make it actually quite difficult if you don't have professional journalists on the ground.” – Imogen Foulkes [33:43]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Mehran Rapoport:
  • “This is unprecedented. No international journalist media allowed by Israel to come in. So we depended totally...on Palestinian journalists who were very limited in their ability to move, and so many of them were killed.” [09:26]
• Nick Cumming:
  • “...the IDF...has a pretty shocking record on this issue, going back to the death of a British freelance journalist, James Miller, in 2003. Or the highly regarded Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh...” [27:25]
• Irene Khan:
  • “Journalists...have to go where the fighting is, where the danger is, because that's what they're supposed to report on. So they need to be seen in something equivalent to essential workers. I think in our digital age, information is a survival, right, particularly in the context of armed conflicts.” [24:01]
  • “At this point it is a cover up of genocide...” [22:44]
• James Elder (UNICEF):
  • “When the world adjusts and normalizes this level of violence and of deprivation, something is profoundly broken.” [16:55]
  • “If you speak to the brave doctors...when they speak, it should cut through politics...But...even when its past denials are shown to be false...that voice is still somehow treated as indispensable in balancing a story. Now, that's giving a platform to those engineering starvation. That's a real problem.” [18:37]
• Rick Peeperkorn (WHO):
  • “As a medical doctor myself… This child is 2 years old. I mean, they look like 2 years old and they're 4 or 5 years old.” [17:43]
• Imogen Foulkes:
  • “In war, truth is the first casualty....if you want at least some truth from a conflict zone, trust journalists and let us in.” [33:43]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:07–01:22: Introduction of main issues — journalist deaths, denied access, humanitarian updates.
• 02:09–06:52: Host and co-host discuss challenges and personal experiences in conflict reporting.
• 06:52–07:49: What makes Gaza unprecedented for press access.
• 09:26–12:14: Mehran Rapoport on journalist deaths, failure of international media, ethical dilemmas.
• 13:36–15:38: How host/reporters in Geneva rely on humanitarian agencies for factual updates from Gaza.
• 16:55–18:37: Frustration and first-hand accounts from James Elder (UNICEF) and Rick Peeperkorn (WHO).
• 20:14–21:23: Limits of balanced reporting and political (in)action.
• 22:44–25:21: Irene Khan on international law, Israel's unprecedented narrative control, calls for stronger protections.
• 27:25–29:36: On accountability, precedent-setting, and the risk of more closed wars.
• 30:08–31:34: Mehran Rapoport on dangers of an information void and manipulation without reporters on the ground.
• 31:52–33:43: Nick Cumming and Imogen on technology, open-source, and verification, final reflections.

Structure & Tone

The episode is candid, critical, and openly emotional — a plea to recognize the essential, irreplaceable role of professional journalists in war. It foregrounds witnesses, data, ethical crossroads, and the looming dangers for future conflicts if access continues to be denied.

Conclusion

"War and the Press" is a sobering, at times impassioned conversation about the essential, often life-threatening work of journalists—and the mounting obstacles and dangers as conflict parties learn to control, close off, and spin war coverage with little consequence. With Gaza as a frontline case, the panel asks hard questions about the international community's responsibilities, the limitations of humanitarian law, and what happens to truth and accountability when those who report it are silenced.