As 245 journalists have been killed in Gaza, a photojournalist working with the news agency Reuters has resigned. She cited “Betrayal of Journalists in Gaza” as the reason for her resignation.
Journalist Valeri Zink worked as a stringer for Reuters for eight years. She condemned the agency’s coverage of the genocide in Gaza and “justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of journalists.”
Announcing her resignation, Zink said, “I have valued the work that I brought to Reuters over the past eight years, but at this point I can’t conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief.”
She shared a picture of her ID card, which was chopped. Zink highlighted that her photographs covering the prairie provinces were published by the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and other media outlets across North America, Asia, and Europe.
The scribe further said, “I owe my colleagues in Palestine at least this much, and so much more”. She further criticised Reuters for its coverage of journalist Anas-Al-Sharif and the crew of Al Jazeera in Gaza on August 10.
The journalist said that the agency published Israel’s “entirely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative,” describing it as “one of countless lies” that media outlets like Reuters have dutifully repeated and dignified.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the killing of Al-Sharif, who was targeted by the Israeli military. The CPJ termed the killing a “dangerous smear campaign,” falsely labelling him a Hamas member.
Zink further said that five more journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri, were among 20 people killed in an attack on Nasser Hospital, a so-called “double tap” strike.
According to Zink, Western media have contributed to the environment in which such attacks occur. Quoting journalist Jeremy Scahill from Drop Site News, she said, “Every major outlet, from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from AP to Reuters, has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitising war crimes and dehumanising victims, abandoning their colleagues and their alleged commitment to true and ethical reporting.”
The photo journalists further criticised Reuters for its coverage of Al Sharif’s death despite the latter’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work.
“I don’t know what it means to begin to honour the courage and sacrifice of journalists in Gaza, the bravest and best to ever live, but going forward I will direct whatever contributions I have to offer with that front of mind,” Zink highlighted, reflecting on the courage of Gaza’s journalists.
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