In this episode of FMEP’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks with Anan Quzmar, a Palestinian researcher focused on the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists and the broader destruction of Gaza’s documentation ecosystem; and  Zo Brown (an alias), the founder of Databases for Palestine about Israel’s assault on Palestinian journalism – starting even before 10/7/23 – and the failures of international organizations ostensibly devoted to defend journalists, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). You can follow the work of Databases for Palestine on X at @databases4pal, and Anan at @QuzmarAnan. See below for resources related to this podcast.

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Bios:

 Anan Quzmar is a Palestinian researcher currently pursuing an LL.M. in Human Rights Advocacy at NOVA School of Law in Lisbon, Portugal. He has worked in human rights documentation with Palestinian and international human rights and development organizations for many years. Following the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, his research has focused on the systematic targeting of Palestinian journalists and the broader destruction of Gaza’s documentation ecosystem. From October 2023 to October 2024, he volunteered with the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, documenting the killing and targeting of Palestinian journalists in Gaza. Follow Anan’s work at @QuzmarAnan.

Zo Brown (pseudonym) is the founder of Databases for Palestine, where he works as an archivist and software developer. Follow the work of Databases for Palestine on X at @databases4pal

Resources mentioned in this podcast

• Democracy NOW 1/8/24: Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate: Israel Is Targeting Media in Gaza to Hide Its Atrocities from the World [interview with Anan Quzmar]
• No Frontiers/Kalen Goodluck 11/19/25: SCOOP: Committee to Protect Journalists undercounts journalists “murdered” by Israel, is it by design?
• Brown University/Watson School of International Affairs 4/1/25: News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World [“The war in Gaza has, since October 7, 2023, killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined.”]
• Committee to Protect Journalists 5/9/23: Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable.
• Website: Stop Murdering Journalists.com (tributes, Arabic only, are here)
• FMEP podcast 11/12/26: “Without memory, there can be no justice” – Archiving the Gaza Genocide, ft. FMEP President Lara Friedman in conversation with Zo Brown (an alias), the founder of Databases for Palestine about the project, and about why actively working to preserve evidence and memory of Israel’s genocide of Gaza — and actively working to fight the erasure of both — is central to the achievement of accountability and justice.

Media related to the podcast

• The Cradle 7/9/26: CPJ reviews removal of four Palestinian journalists killed by Israel from Gaza casualty database: Report [“Media groups argue that the change to the CPJ definition of ‘journalist’ has played into the hands of Israel”]
• New Lines Magazine 7/9/26: Inside the Dispute Over How To Define a Journalist [“A review of media worker deaths in Gaza has escalated into an institutional debate at CPJ over definitions, methodology and the limits of classification in wartime reporting”]
• Washington Free Beacon 7/9/26: Committee to Protect Journalists’ Staff Packed With Anti-Israel Agitators Amid Boardroom Feuds Over Group’s List of ‘Journalists’ Killed in Gaza’ [“The CPJ is facing serious challenges to its legitimacy after an avalanche of bad press”]
• Electronic Intifada 7/7/26: Exclusive: CPJ reconsidering removal of killed Gaza journalists from database
• Columbia Journalism Review 7/6/26: Who Counts? [“The Committee to Protect Journalists’ role documenting members of the press killed in the Israel-Gaza war has made it a target.”]
• Canary 7/3/26: CPJ reverses decision to discount slain Gaza journalists after global outrage
• Haaretz 7/2/26: The Scandal Over a Revised Gaza Death Toll Is Actually an Attack on Journalism [“The controversy that erupted after the Committee to Protect Journalists removed some Palestinian journalists from its Gaza death toll is a cover for the grim reality that Israel is the deadliest country in the world for journalists”]
• The New Arab 7/1/26 (by CJP MENA Regional Director): Setting the record straight on CPJ and Palestinian journalists [“The CPJ’s public methodology, independent research and commitment to evidence are at the heart of its work, writes MENA Regional Director Sara Qudah.”]
• Mondoweiss 6/30/26: Committee to Protect Journalists’ decision to turn its back on slain Palestinian journalists is another step toward isolating Gaza [“I have worked as a journalist in Gaza for nearly a decade, and I believe the Committee to Protect Journalists’ decision to remove the names of Palestinians killed while reporting from its records is yet another attempt to silence Gaza. It will fail.”]
• Honest Reporting 6/30/26: After HonestReporting’s Research, CPJ Ousts Nika Soon-Shiong and Admits Its Gaza “Journalist” List Was Wrong [“The CPJ removed anti-Israel board member Nika Soon-Shiong after admitting its Gazan journalist casualty list included terrorists.”]
• The Cradle 6/29/26: CPJ announces ‘review’ of media workers killed by Israel in Gaza [“Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd called the CPJ review a ‘cowardly witch-hunt’ that reinforces the justification of Israel’s killing of journalists”]
• Electronic Intifada 2/12/26: CPJ scrapped “Impunity Index” to shield Israel, whistleblowers say
• Electronic Intifada 12/18/25: Is Committee to Protect Journalists scared of its pro-Israel donors?