Thursday, August 14, 2014

Hamas Controlled And Threatened The Press Corp In It's Coverage Of The Recent Israel - Gaza War


Hamas Manipulated And Intimidated The Media In Gaza. Why Was That Kept From Us? -- Alan Johnson, The Telegraph

We should normally say if our reports are censored or monitored or if we withhold information, and explain, wherever possible, the rules under which we are operating.- Section 11.4.1 of the BBC Editorial Guidelines on accuracy and impartiality in times of War, Terror and Emergencies

The Foreign Press Association (FPA) issued an astonishing protest yesterday about "blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox" intimidation of journalists in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. "In several cases," they complained, "foreign reporters working in Gaza have been harassed, threatened or questioned over stories." The FPA said this amounted to "denying readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground," adding "we are also aware that Hamas is trying to put in place a 'vetting' procedure that would, in effect, allow for the blacklisting of specific journalists. Such a procedure is vehemently opposed by the FPA." The statement raises a lot of questions. Here is one: why have British broadcasters not mentioned any of this to their viewers?

Let's review what we know.

Read more ....

My Comment: Whenever there is a report from Gaza .... the news network should do what they use to do .... at the beginning of the story they would say that all reports from Gaza are under strict Hamas censorship and control. In this current conflict .... from my vantage point in Canada .... viewers definitely did not get the impression that these news stories were actually carefully orchestrated and that all of them had to follow strict Hamas media guidelines.

Update: It should also be noted that Western coverage of the conflict that was critical of Israel has also come under fire .... NBC decision to drop Ayman Mohyeldin raises questions over Gaza coverage -- Al Arabiya

No comments: