Freelance Reporters Paid by CNN, NYT Raise Ethical Questions After Coverage of Hamas Attack
Is it possible that major publications like CNN, the Associated Press, Reuters and The New York Times published photographs taken by men who were working with Hamas terrorists?
If the claim made by Honest Reporting is true, it would end any credibility of the so-called legacy media and represent a violation of journalistic ethics.
According to the outlet, while the horrific Hamas attacks on Israelis were still going on, some Gaza-based photojournalists were seen taking pictures of Hamas militants without standard protective gear, indicating that they knew about the attacks and had coordinated with Hamas. Their pictures were rapidly published by news agencies, such as the AP and Reuters.
I guess I wasn’t the only one wondering why the @AP had photographers embedded with the terrorists on 10/7? https://t.co/0yxTlYLTeh pic.twitter.com/gygpyHpznw
— Dovi Safier (@safier) November 8, 2023
According to Honest Reporting, Gaza-based freelance photojournalists Hassan Eslaiah, Yousef Masoud, Ali Mahmud, Hatem Ali, Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa and Yasser Qudih were present during the attacks.
Eslaiah, who does work for CNN, even boasted in Arabic on X about “live” reporting from “inside the Gaza Strip settlements.”
Honest Reporting also posted a photograph of Eslaiah, whose photographs were published by both CNN and the AP, with one of the Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, who was involved in the planning of the Oct. 7 attack.
And here is footage of Eslaiah after he crossed into Israel and took photos of a burning Israeli tank. He then captured infiltrators entering Kibbutz Kfar Azza.
Note that he is not identifiable as a member of the press. But AP & CNN deemed it acceptable to use his services. pic.twitter.com/fA0VI2df2i
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023
Masoud, a photographer who contributes to the New York Times, crossed into Israeli territory to photograph damaged military vehicles.
Freelancers for the AP, Mahmud and Ali were also somehow present at that early hour to document the graphic abduction of Israelis into Gaza. Mahmud took pictures of the horrific images of the German-Israeli Shani Louk being loaded onto a pickup truck. Louk was later declared dead.
Shani Louk ‘beheaded’ by Hamas after she was kidnapped at music festival and paraded by terrorists: Israel https://t.co/Ubp1hGxJaR pic.twitter.com/BjKObzPXJB
— New York Post (@nypost) October 30, 2023
In a move that appalled many, Reuters ran extremely disturbing photos of a lynch mob taken by Abu Mostafa.
Despite the horrific nature of the images, editors highlighted one of those photos as an “Image of the Day” on their website.
The names of some photographers have since been removed from certain controversial photos in the AP database, which raises the question: Why is the AP trying to hide who took those pictures?
Really crazy story:
A complete investigation that proves how photographers working for the New York Times, CNN, AP and Reuters moved with the Nohva forces from the first moments of the attack, documenting, among other things, a kidnapping, lynching of the body of an IDF soldier,… pic.twitter.com/3XU3qyzHpS
— Mossad Commentary (@MOSSADil) November 8, 2023
While the job of photojournalists in war zones is undeniably difficult, they still have a moral and ethical responsibility.
Honest Reporting raises another important question: Since the planning of these attacks goes back months or possibly years, is it possible that these journalists knew about the attacks beforehand?
What other explanation could there be for the fact that they were all lucky enough to be in the right place at the right with their cameras to capture this attack?
Even if the news outlets were not made aware of these attacks beforehand, surely they must have realized that something was off when all these freelancers just happened to be there early on a Saturday morning to capture these graphic images.
Was it then ethical to purchase and use photographs that may be tied to terrorism?
If this story is true, it would confirm accusations that true journalism is dead and that some members of mainstream media have become complicit actors in propaganda efforts rather than trusted documentarians of events.
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