IMAGE: Canadian photojournalist Valery Zink
Yesterday, both Reuters and the Associated Press sent a joint letter to Israeli officials requesting a detailed explanation regarding the airstrikes that resulted in the deaths of journalists in Gaza. The letter was addressed to Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Director of the Government Press Office Nitzan Chen. Since October 7, Western media outlets have consistently downplayed the relentless assault on journalists, civil defense workers, UN employees, and, of course, the vulnerable civilian population in Gaza. This letter, along with its call for accountability, undoubtedly arrives too late. The Israeli double-strikes on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, which have killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, raise questions about Western media responsibility.
The consistent difference in the treatment of Palestinian and Israeli fatalities by the Western mainstream press has been documented and extensively analysed since the onset of the conflict, with findings indicating significant bias and inequality in their media coverage. The terminology used by Western mainstream media to portray the situation in Gaza is shockingly insensitive, intentionally crafted to mislead the public and perpetuate the disturbing dehumanisation of Palestinians. The coverage is so one-sided and in sync with Israel’s narrative that it has led many to question whether the absence of empathy and concern for Palestinian journalists stems from the fact that the victims are neither American nor European. Nevertheless, there is a growing dissatisfaction within newsrooms, with journalists beginning to voice their concerns regarding media bias.
Today, we are highlighting the story of Valerie Zink, a Canadian photojournalist who has recently left her position as a Reuters correspondent. She feels that the agency has supported Israel’s propaganda and has not adequately defended her fallen colleagues in Gaza. This is the message she posted on her Facebook page:
Valerie Zink
TRT Global has the story…
IMAGE: Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink shared her torn Reuters press badge on Facebook as a symbolic act of resignation after 8 years with the agency. (Source: Facebook/Valerie Zink)
TRT Global reports…
Canada photojournalist says Reuters culpable in Israel’s assassination of 246 Gaza journalists
Valerie Zink says the agency enabled Israel’s propaganda and failed to defend slain colleagues in Gaza
Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink announced on her personal Facebook page that she is resigning from Reuters news agency after eight years as a stringer, saying she can no longer work for an agency she accuses of “justifying and enabling” Israel’s systematic killing of journalists in Gaza.
Zink, whose work has been published by the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and outlets across North America, Europe, and Asia, said Reuters’ coverage has contributed to the conditions in which 246 journalists have been killed since Israel launched its carnage in Gaza in October 2023.
She cited the case of Anas al-Sharif, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Al Jazeera correspondent who was killed with his crew in Gaza City on August 10.
“Reuters chose to publish Israel’s entirely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative – one of countless lies that media outlets like Reuters have dutifully repeated and dignified,” Zink wrote.
Perpetuate Israel’s propaganda
She also condemned Reuters’ response to the killing of its own staff.
On Monday, cameraman Hossam al-Masri was among 20 people killed in an Israeli strike on Nasser hospital. Zink described it as a “double tap” attack — an initial strike on a civilian site followed by a second strike targeting medics, rescuers, and journalists.
“Western media is directly culpable for creating the conditions in which this can happen,” she said, quoting journalist Jeremy Scahill’s criticism that “every major outlet – from the New York Times to Reuters – has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitising war crimes and dehumanising victims.”
Zink argued that by repeating Israeli military claims without verification, Western media has “made possible the killing of more journalists in two years on one tiny strip of land than in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined.”
She accused Reuters of abandoning al-Sharif even after he won them a Pulitzer Prize.
“It did not compel them to come to his defence when Israeli forces placed him on a hit list … or when he appealed for protection after an Israeli spokesperson publicly threatened him. It did not compel them to report on his death honestly when he was hunted and killed weeks later,” she said.
Zink said she can no longer wear her Reuters press pass without “deep shame and grief.”She pledged to redirect her work in honour of Gaza’s journalists, whom she called “the bravest and best to ever live.”
Global condemnation
At least 21 people, including medics and journalists, were killed on Monday when Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Among the dead were Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, AP freelancer Mariam Abu Daqqa, Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called it “an open war against free media,” while UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese urged states to “break the blockade, impose an arms embargo, impose sanctions.”
Albanese called all journalists in the world to raise their voice against the massacre of their brave Palestinian colleagues while “documenting the genocide.”
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Author: Global Affairs
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