“Far from being benign, trips sponsored by Israel are designed to bury the truth and whitewash reportage of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
CAGAYAN DE ORO — “Accepting sponsored trips from those accused of committing genocide is downright unethical.”
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) issued this statement following the recent trip of several Filipino journalists to Israel, a country accused of committing genocide against Palestinians based on the findings by the United Nations (UN) Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
The Israel-funded trip reportedly served as an opportunity for the journalists to experience Israel “beyond the headlines.” For NUJP, participating in Israel-funded trips gives an avenue for the said country to justify violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and infringes the principles of justice and humanity in journalism.
“Far from being benign, trips sponsored by Israel are designed to bury the truth and whitewash reportage of the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people,” the journalists’ group said in a statement, urging its colleagues to reject Israel-sponsored trips.
As of June 2026, 209 journalists and media workers have been killed since Israel intensified attacks in Palestine in October 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), citing the numbers provided by Gaza’s Ministry of Health and Israeli authorities, reported that more than 72,000 Palestinians were allegedly killed from October 7, 2023 to May 6, 2026.
NUJP cited a part of its Ethical Guide for Filipino Journalists published in 2021 pertaining to media junket, where it says that “journalists may not accept an invitation to a media junket or an all-expense paid trip where there is no work involved or the purpose is only to get on their good side with expectation of positive coverage in the future, or to establish a friendship with the host.”
In a statement, The Philippine Business and News’s Monsi Alfonso Serrano who was among the participants said that their participation does not equate to surrendering their editorial independence.
For its part, the Filipino Freelance Journalists’ Guild (FFJ) asked, “How independent can reporting be when it is sponsored by a government with a direct stake in the story? What stories get told, and whose voices get amplified, when access comes with an agenda attached?”
FFJ said that grants and fellowships are common practice in the media community which makes reporting, especially for freelance journalists, possible. However, it urged journalists and media workers to “draw the line” at opportunities coming from a country that is facing allegations of genocide.
Last year, several Filipino journalists were also invited by the Embassy of Israel in Manila to visit the country with the same objective.
For the Philippines-Palestine Friendship Association, to engage in such trips funded by a country accused of committing genocide is “complicity, both moral and intellectual.” (DAA)
Disclosure: Bulatlat editor-in-chief Ronalyn Olea is the secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
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