FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2025
Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
CODEPINK, Artists Against Apartheid & Entertainment Labor 4 Palestine Launch #ViolenceDetox Campaign Targeting Media Complicity in Zionist Propaganda
Teach-In at CNN Headquarters on Eve of Nakba Day Demands Truthful Coverage of Palestine
LOS ANGELES, CA – On Wednesday, ahead of Nakba Day—which commemorates the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians—CODEPINK, Artists Against Apartheid, and Entertainment Labor 4 Palestine will launch #ViolenceDetox, a campaign confronting corporate media’s role in spreading Zionist lies and justifying genocide. Nakba Day (May 15) marks the 1948 expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Activists will rally at CNN’s Los Angeles headquarters (Time Warner Center, 2300 Olive St) to demand an end to dehumanizing coverage that erases Palestinian suffering.
"What’s been lacking in Western Media isn’t knowledge, but rather the moral courage to report the truth. The truth isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes courage to risk alienation by condemning Israel, a Western ally, and courage to put journalistic access to one’s political leaders on the line by condemning their support for the assault. And it takes even more courage to cut a clear path through a colonial history of abuse and occupation that Western audiences have long been primed to reject. But journalism – and the truth – demands nothing less,” explained teach-in creator Noura Khoury
Event Details:
- When: Wednesday, May 14 (Eve of Nakba Day)
- Where: CNN LA Headquarters, 2300 Olive St, Los Angeles
- Visuals: Activists in keffiyehs will carry out a “Violence Detox” in street theater fashion, with visuals and art
Just this week, Israel intentionally targeted and murdered Gaza journalist Hassan Eslaih by first injuring him with an airstrike on a tent used by journalists and then by bombing the hospital where Hassan was receiving treatment. The killing of journalists and the bombing of hospitals are both considered war crimes under international law.
“In my time in reporting in Afghanistan, I lost two media friends, and both deaths devastated our small media community. I cannot fathom losing 200+ colleagues. Journalists are afforded protections under international law during times of war, and to see those protections be discarded by Israel to such an extreme extent, to have it be normalized, is terrifying and endangers journalists everywhere. As media workers, we must do our part in holding our
organizations responsible against biased reporting, spreading propaganda, and normalizing the targeted killing of journalists,” said Entertainment Labor for Palestine organizer Miriam Arghandiwal.
The Media #ViolenceDetox campaign offers the tools to reeducate those who work in culture and the media. It is designed to show them how they are serving the violence and the erasure of people. This kick-off will be followed by activists within media and culture bringing the teach-in to those they work with and for. It will target those who:
- Parrot Israeli state propaganda, framing Palestinian resistance as “unprovoked” while ignoring decades of oppression.
- Amplify false “antisemitism” smears to silence critics of Israel.
- Enable genocide by whitewashing Israel’s massacres in Gaza.
“The media has become a toxic waste dump of Zionist propaganda, drowning in lies that fuel violence against Palestinians,” said Jodie Evans of CODEPINK. “CNN and other outlets must detox their reporting: The violence didn’t start on October 7th. It began with 76 years of Israeli occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing.”
Media #ViolenceDetox is part of a growing movement to hold media and cultural institutions accountable for complicity in Israeli violence. It coincides with broader cultural resistance, including recent actions at Netflix (demanding the streaming service reinstate its Palestinian Stories film collection) and The Academy (condemning its silence over Israel’s censorship of a Palestinian director).
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