A photographer who worked for eight years as a stringer for Reuters has decided to sever relations with the media outlet, accusing the agency of supporting Israeli propaganda and indirect responsibility in the killing of journalists in Gaza.
She explains that after the killing of Anas Al-Sharif and the rest of the Al-Jazeera team on August 10 in Gaza City, Reuters published Israeli claims that Al-Sharif was part of Hamas – accusations that the photographer calls baseless. According to her, the repetition of these “lies” has created the conditions for further attacks that have killed journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri in a second attack on Nasser Hospital.
The photographer accuses Western media, including Reuters, of serving as “propaganda pullers” for Israel, keeping quiet about war crimes and leaving their colleagues defenseless. She says she cannot continue to hold her Reuters accreditation without feeling shame and pain, deciding to focus her work on honoring the courage and sacrifice of journalists in Gaza.
Photographer's post
For years I worked as a stringer for the Reuters news agency. My photographs covering events in the prairie provinces have been published by the New York Times, Al Jazeera and other media outlets in North America, Asia, Europe and beyond. At this point it has become impossible for me to maintain a relationship with Reuters given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic killing of 245 journalists in Gaza. I owe my colleagues in Palestine at least that, and much more.
When Israel killed Anas Al-Sharif, along with the entire Al-Jazeera team in Gaza City on August 10, Reuters chose to publish Israel’s completely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative – one of many lies that outlets like Reuters have repeated and paid close attention to. Reuters’ willingness to spread Israeli propaganda has not spared its own journalists from Israel’s genocide either. Five other journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri, were among the 20 people killed this morning in another attack on Nasser Hospital. It was what is known as a “double tap” attack, in which Israel bombs a civilian target such as a school or hospital; waits for medics, rescue workers and journalists to arrive; and then strikes again.
The Western media is directly responsible for creating the conditions in which this can happen. As Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News put it, “every major media outlet – from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from the AP to Reuters – has served as a conduit for Israeli propaganda, sanitizing war crimes and dehumanizing victims, abandoning colleagues and their alleged commitment to truthful and ethical reporting.”
By repeating Israel's genocidal fabrications without verifying their credibility – by willfully abandoning the most basic responsibility of journalism – the Western media has made it possible to kill more journalists in two years on a small piece of land than during World War I, World War II, and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined, not to mention starving entire populations, destroying their children, and burning people alive.
The fact that Anas Al-Sharif’s work won the Pulitzer Prize for Reuters did not compel them to come to his defense when Israeli forces put him on a “kill list” of journalists accused of being Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. It did not compel them to defend themselves when he turned to the international media for protection after an Israeli military spokesman released a video clearly showing the intention to execute him following a report he had made on the growing famine. It did not compel them to report honestly on his death when he was tracked down and killed a few weeks later.
I have valued the work I have brought to Reuters over the past eight years, but at this point I can no longer look at my Reuters accreditation without feeling nothing but shame and deep pain. I do not know what it means to begin to honor the courage and sacrifice of the journalists in Gaza – the bravest and best that have ever existed – but from now on I will direct every contribution I have to make with that goal in mind.
