Honestreporting published an investigation on Wednesday about photojournalists working for The New York Times, Reuters, AP and CNN who joined Hamas terrorists on Black Saturday and documented the riots.
Following the report, the civilian information bureau sent a letter to the directors general of the media organizations demanding an unequivocal termination of communication with all the photographers who participated in the events.
The photographer fired from CNN while filming interruptions
الصحفي حسن اصليح قرب آلية عسكرية تابعة للاحتلال: "اختطاف كل الجنود الإسرائيليين الذين تواجدوا في الدبابة". pic.twitter.com/ru5dmi0Pzy
— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) October 7, 2023
"A particularly bad smell arises from the fact that photographers who communicate with you on routine days stood on the border fence so early in the morning. From the details that are now becoming clear, it seems that those present on the fence knew in advance what was happening and nevertheless chose not to report it, in complete contravention of the photographers' convention. You must terminate all communication with them and condemn the behavior in an unequivocal manner that will not be implied in any other way."
CNN decided to suspend relations with photographer Hassan Asaya, who was also affected by the conclusions of the investigation. "We found no reason to doubt the journalistic accuracy of the work done for us, but we have decided to suspend all contact with him," the media outlet said in a statement.
"If representatives of the major news agencies and networks knew in advance about the expected massacre, it raises a prima facie concern of complicity." Gaza village to the massacre, photo: Ilya Yegorov
Nicole Meyer, an AP spokeswoman, said in response to the investigation's findings: "The Associated Press had no knowledge of the October 7 attacks before they occurred. The AP's job is to gather information about news events around the world, wherever they occur, even when those events are horrific and cause mass victimization. AP uses photos taken by freelancers around the world, including in Gaza."
The Jerusalem Journalists Association said that "if representatives of the large news agencies and networks knew in advance about the expected massacre, this raises prima facie concern of complicity or failure to prevent the murder. The investigation raises serious ethical questions, not only about the conduct of the field personnel, but also of the directors of the networks and press agencies, and the question is whether they knew about Hamas' intentions and still gave it a hand. We call on them to conduct a thorough investigation in order to examine what they knew before the massacre, and whether their other conduct would have saved many innocent lives. We demand that the conclusions be published as soon as possible before the entire world, just as they disseminated the terrible reports and pictures."
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