Objective

Undoubtedly, one of the most significant geopolitical events of 2023 was the October 7 attacks in Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. Many legacy media institutions and foreign policy magazines analyzed the war's political and economic implications or placed it within its historical context. While those angles were not missing from New Lines’ coverage, we sought to use the podcast to explore a crucial but less examined angle: the human perspective that had been desperately lacking from international coverage due to bans preventing foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.

In this episode, veteran correspondent Arwa Damon, who has spent over a decade reporting from war zones across the MENA region, shares her experience of a rare trip for a foreign journalist into Gaza, undertaken with her NGO, Inara.

Damon delves into the emotional intensity engulfing both Israel and Palestine, showing how it clouds judgment, distorts decision-making, and fuels global divisions over the war. The conversation also touches on the multifaceted nature of this conflict, including the role of disinformation and emotional manipulation in shaping narratives.

Strategy

The plan of action and execution involved the following steps:

1. We identified a need for a podcast episode detailing life inside Gaza, featuring an experienced, independent English-language voice, which we felt was lacking from coverage of the conflict.
    
2. We identified two articles Arwa Damon had recently written for the podcast’s parent magazine, which we felt would benefit from further discussion in the podcast medium. Damon’s recent return from a trip to Gaza, where she witnessed firsthand the devastation being suffered by the territory’s occupants, felt like compelling and important subject matter for the podcast.
    
3. After scheduling an interview with Damon, the producers crafted a script that aimed to highlight Damon’s unique insight into the issue of trauma through both her many years’ experience as a war correspondent and her subsequent work as the founder of a nonprofit that provides medical and mental health care to child victims of conflict or natural disasters.
    
4. The discussion was led by our seasoned host, Faisal Al Yafai, who has reported from across the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Russia and Indonesia. Al Yafai drew on his many years of hosting to know when to press Damon for further details, and when to give her space to recount her experiences uninterrupted.

Results

The episode’s primary success came in providing expert insight into a topic with a dearth of coverage from external reporters. In securing a compelling interview with a reporter with the experience to tell this story with empathy and accuracy, we felt we had achieved a major success.

We also achieved success by gaining recognition from peers that we had produced a standout piece of audio journalism. We were honoured in the Signal Awards 2024: The Lede: On the Ground in Gaza — With Arwa Damon won Silver in the Interview/Talk Show category

Media