Palestinian journalist Plestia Alaqad says she is trying to keep reporting after covering 45 days of destruction in Gaza through social media, describing it as a period in which her role was “just to exist.” In interviews with outlets including Brisbane Times, The Age, and the Sydney Morning Herald, Alaqad discusses the personal toll of documenting events while people endure ongoing violence and instability.
Across the articles, the focus is on what comes after intense coverage. Alaqad questions whether news can still change the world once audiences become overwhelmed and “media fatigue” sets in. She also speaks to the challenge of sustaining attention and emotional resilience for both journalists and viewers during a prolonged humanitarian crisis.
While all three pieces cover the same core experiences and themes, they differ in emphasis: some foreground her reflections on survivorship and the limits of storytelling, while others highlight broader questions about the effectiveness of media in shaping public response. Together, the reports present Alaqad’s account of moving from continuous, immediate documentation toward “starting fresh.”
