Journalists at Westminster have received on Monday copies of a new handbook that challenges the UK media's coverage of Israel's war on Gaza and calls out its complicity in amplifying Israeli government narratives.
Around 100 copies of the handbook, 'Journalism During a Genocide', were handed out by Independent Alliance (IA) MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, and Iqbal Mohamed.
The 12-page guide is designed as a tool to help journalists ask better questions and hold the UK government to account. It includes prompts on arms exports, RAF bases in Cyprus, the use of the term "genocide", and calls for a Chilcot-style inquiry into London's role in the Gaza onslaught.
It also provides reading material from leading human rights organisations Al-Haq, Amnesty International, and the British Palestine Committee.
Speaking to The New Arab, MP Adam said the handbook responds to the absence of independent Palestinian voices in mainstream UK reporting.
"As the Israeli army restricts access to Gaza, it’s become harder to hear the truth. The media has largely repeated official Israeli talking points with little balance or scrutiny," Adam said. "We hope this guide helps journalists pursue the truth and deliver a more honest narrative."
"For those still alive in Gaza, it feels like one minute to midnight. The UK media needs to stop filtering the truth," he said.
"As the [Israeli army] restricts any independent reporting from Gaza, it has become increasingly difficult to hear the truth and the people's stories. So, it is little wonder the mainstream media echo the lines of the Israeli government with little balance and objectivity," he added.
"We felt producing the guide might help the UK media try different methods to seek the truth and achieve a more objective narrative."
MP Corbyn told The New Arab that the guide should serve as a wake-up call to British journalists.
"In the future, the world will ask: where were you and what were you doing during genocide?" he said. "That includes many in our media, who have utterly failed to hold the Prime Minister to account over this government’s complicity."
The IA MPs argued that UK journalists have a responsibility to expose government support for a war that rights groups and legal experts have increasingly described as genocidal.
The guide calls for media institutions to stop avoiding the issue and confront their role in shaping public understanding.
"Gaza has been a test for our media," the Independent Alliance said in a statement. "They have failed to speak up for murdered journalists, to treat all lives equally, and to hold the government accountable. That is how you normalise genocide, and on that front, the media have shamefully succeeded."