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The Palestinians telling their own stories

October 9, 2026

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5 min read

The Palestinians telling their own stories

When Sada Yassin worked in newsrooms—first at BuzzFeed News, later as managing editor of the Los Angeles Times—she found herself in rooms where editors debated whether to call what was happening in Gaza a "war" or a "conflict." The distinction mattered because, as she puts it, both terms "presuppose a sort of equal power that's not there." That experience of negotiating language, of having to caveat the word "genocide" even after a UN commission had used it, became a breaking point. It led her to launch The Key, an online publication that publishes analysis, interviews, essays, reviews, and reportage about Palestine.

The problem with "fairness" as it's practiced

Yassin has interviewed roughly 50 journalists across the US, Canada, and the UK about how their newsrooms cover Israel and Palestine. What she found was not simply individual bias but something structural. Legacy institutions are reluctant to change how they've always done things, and managers often default to "I can't deal with this right now" when confronted with questions about framing. The result is a version of "balance" that treats Palestinians unequally from the start.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (02:02) **"It's Complicated" Journalism** - Sada Yassin introduces the concept of "it's complicated journalism" as a systemic problem in covering Palestinians, where conventional journalistic standards are unevenly applied.
  • 2 (07:08) **Both-Sides Framing and the Question of Power** - Sada responds to the common critique of "both sides" journalism by centering power dynamics and historical context.
  • 3 (09:50) **The Fight Over Language: Apartheid and Occupation** - Sada traces how older newsroom battles over words like "apartheid" and "occupation" reflect ongoing struggles to accurately describe Palestinian life.
  • 4 (13:50) **The Trust Gap with Young Audiences** - The conversation shifts to the disconnect between mainstream news and younger consumers, who distrust traditional media and turn to TikTok.
  • 5 (16:30) **Fairness Doesn't Mean Mincing Reality** - Sada argues that true fairness requires naming reality directly, even when it challenges institutional norms.
  • 6 (17:03) **The Slaughter of Palestinian Journalists** - Sada addresses the devastating toll on Palestinian journalists and the industry's inadequate response.
  • 7 (20:23) **The Ed Sheeran-Macklemore Controversy as a Case Study in Power** - Sada analyzes the cultural fallout of Macklemore being dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour for pro-Palestinian remarks.

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Show Notes

Palestinians are challenging the narrative one story at a time.

Editor-in-Chief of The Key, Sara Yasin, wants us to rethink what she calls ‘it’s complicated' journalism. As more young people are exposed to the destruction in Gaza -- outside of traditional media outlets -- Sara wanted to provide a space where Palestinians can speak freely about what’s going on around them.

Enter: The Key, an online publication that focuses on “analysis, interviews, essays, reviews and reportage about Palestine.” Sara joins the show to get into The Key, what ‘fairness’ looks like for mainstream media in this moment, and how power informs framing. 

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