Medie dækning
Every year, the media selects their best images of the year to be included in collections that showcase what they consider to be their best examples of photojournalism. This year, however, The New York Times, Reuters and the Associated Press chose to include images in their prestigious photo galleries taken by Gaza-based photojournalists. These photographers were present in the early morning hours at the broken Gaza-Israel border on October 7, documenting Hamas atrocities, which have raised serious ethical questions.
CNN, AP and Reuters
Media coverage of October 7th
Hamas leader and mastermind behind the October 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar, kisses photojournalist Hassan Eslaiah in a photo shared on Eslaiah's X account in 2020.
Four names appear on the AP photo credit from Israel-Gaza on Oct. 7: Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud and Hatem Ali. Eslaiah, a freelancer who also works for CNN, crossed into Israel, took photos of a burning Israeli tank and the terrorists entering Kibbutz Kfar Azz.
After a November 2023 article highlighted their collaboration with one of the photojournalists whose close ties to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the AP and CNN cut ties with several photojournalists from Gaza. A group of 14 U.S. attorneys general are asking the heads of CNN, The New York Times, Reuters and the AP to better vet their freelancers to avoid violating laws against providing material support to terrorist organizations like Hamas.
However, this has not stopped America's leading newspaper and the world's largest news agencies from republishing some of the controversial images taken by these freelancers – and celebrating their professional worth as "Brave Photographers". The New York Times' photo gallery, entitled "A Weary World", makes the following statement:
"Each year, our photo editors try to capture the best photojournalism in an intense presentation. The Year in Pictures is a way to commemorate the big news events from January to December: the ones that traumatized us - and there are many of them - mixed with some moments of bliss.
The images collected here are a tribute to the brave photographers who risked their lives to capture them, and remind us that there were so many tears in 2023.
With this in mind, readers are presented with the following image of the Gaza border fence being breached.
Brave photographers
The photographer here was clearly able to operate unhindered by the lynch mob and certainly contributed to the visual message Hamas wanted to deliver that day by virtue of their own documentation of the massacre. Questions arise when looking at these images. Is it disrespectful for Reuters to publish a photo showing the identifiable face and mutilated body of a murdered Israeli soldier to the world? Did anyone at Reuters seek permission from the victim’s family? And why is this dead soldier so important?
Israel invited the world press to a screening of the material it had collected from the footage of Hamas' militias when they invaded. This screening has been available in Denmark, and Danish journalists were invited. However, not many accepted the invitation.
Israel has placed great emphasis on sensitivity and compassion for the collective trauma that the nation has endured. This compassion does not seem to go both ways, the moral responsibility and ethical issues must be debated here.
Ethics and morals?
AP fulgte trop. Disse ord indleder dets 2023-fotogalleri:
"Fotojournalistikkens mission er at fange øjeblikke, der repræsenterer - og i bedste fald virkelig afslører - det endeløse spektrum af den menneskelige oplevelse.
Associated Press-fotografer over hele verden har brugt 2023 på at gøre præcis det - nogle gange med stor personlig risiko og altid etisk bevist, medfølende og med kvalitet."
Inkluderet i AP's galleri er følgende foto af Ali Mahmud.
Picture of the year
A shocking image of Hamas terrorists parading the nearly naked body of a murdered woman through the streets of Gaza has won a prestigious photo of the year award. The image is of Shani Louk, who was first kidnapped and then beheaded.
This has sparked fierce outrage from those who described the victory as "a scandalous desecration of Jewish life".
The grim image of Shani Louks' body was part of a collection of 20 images that helped the Associated Press secure first place in one of the Pictures of the Year International award categories.
The awards, administered by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism, are considered the world's oldest photojournalism competition. News of the AP's win in the "Team Photo Story of the Year" category has sparked widespread criticism on social media, with some condemning the recognition and use of Louks' image as a "monstrous desecration of Jewish life."
Nicole Louk Naccache, Shani Louk's Grandmother:
"My dead granddaughter stars in a photograph that won a prestigious photography competition. And the world is silent!
My granddaughter's body, after the vile murderers broke her bones so she could get into the back of the van, this body that was only a few hours ago so full of life, love, and light. Tossed as a victory trophy for terrorists and vile photographers.”
