War reporters from CNN and Fox News have issued fresh warnings that Israel’s near-total ban on independent media access to Gaza.
Their criticism comes as the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA) hosted its Annual Foreign Press Awards Gala at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., honoring frontline correspondents while spotlighting the unprecedented toll on journalists in Gaza.
U.S. Foreign Press Gala Honors War Reporters, Criticizes Israel’s Restrictions
Against this backdrop, the AFPC-USA and the international correspondents’ community gathered on December 4, 2025, for their Annual Foreign Press Awards Gala at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
This year’s Foreign Press Awards honored:
- Jim Sciutto, CNN’s chief national security analyst, and
- Trey Yingst, Fox News’ chief foreign correspondent,
with Prizes of Excellence for their frontline conflict reporting.
Al Jazeera Network itself received the Press Freedom Award for what AFPC-USA called its “unwavering commitment to independent journalism” and for the sacrifices made by its Gaza bureau.
From the stage, senior war reporters from CNN and Fox News used their acceptance remarks to criticize Israel’s refusal to admit independent foreign journalists into Gaza and to highlight the dangers faced by their Palestinian colleagues. According to accounts shared by attendees, they:
- Emphasized that no credible coverage is possible when foreign media are confined to military-guided tours.
- Said they were deeply saddened that around ten Al Jazeera journalists and media staff have been killed in Gaza, describing them as colleagues whose work helped the world understand the scale of the devastation.
Speakers drew a direct line between the honors being awarded in Washington and the ongoing lack of accountability for attacks on journalists inside the enclave.
CPJ’s latest statement explicitly situates the media ban within that broader context. By blocking independent access while Palestinian journalists are “slaughtered with impunity”, CPJ says Israel is not only violating press-freedom norms but also denying the world crucial evidence and testimony about events on the ground.
The organization is urging Israel’s Supreme Court to act quickly on the FPA petition and has called on democratic governments — including the United States — to condition their support for Israel on full, unescorted access for international media.
As awards are handed out in Washington to journalists who risk their lives to report from war zones, the message from CPJ and the foreign press community is increasingly blunt: without independent access to Gaza, the world is being forced to watch one of the century’s worst wars through a lens tightly controlled by one side of the conflict.
CPJ: Escorted Gaza Tours Are “Theater,” Not Journalism
Since October 2023, Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza independently, forcing international media to rely on Palestinian reporters and tightly controlled military press tours.
According to CPJ, the only way foreign media have been allowed into Gaza is through infrequent, army-escorted visits that last just a few hours and follow itineraries designed by the Israeli military. Journalists who spoke to CPJ after tours conducted since the October 2025 ceasefire described a pattern of:
- Restricted movement within narrow, pre-selected areas
- Prohibition on meeting Palestinian civilians
- Pre-publication review of raw footage by the Israeli army
- Staged visuals and curated interactions, often limited to Israeli soldiers or officials
Reporters told CPJ that under these conditions they were unable to verify claims, document civilian living conditions, or conduct independent interviews, leaving foreign coverage heavily dependent on images and narratives curated by the Israeli military rather than on genuine newsgathering.
CPJ argues that such escorted tours “fail to satisfy internationally recognized standards for press freedom” and cannot meet Israel’s obligations under international law to enable independent reporting in a conflict zone.
