Mick Hartley

From the JC:

A number of European picture agencies have told German media that they will no longer use images from a Gazan photographer after an investigation by Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) found that some of his depictions of hunger in the Strip were staged.

In a documentary about his work during the war, Anas Zayed Fteiha was filmed taking pictures of civilians queuing for aid.

From the perspective of his lens, the photo showed a crowd of Gazans with empty bowls outstretched, appearing to be jostling for food.

However, a wide shot from the film published by SZ revealed that there were no supplies behind Fteiha as he took the photo and that he was not at a food bank at the time.

Questions have also been raised about the photographer’s independence, given that he works for Turkey’s state-run agency Anadolu and has previously posted anti-Israel statements on social media.

These included an illustration of him in a press vest and helmet surrounded by the domes of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and underscored by the caption “Free Palestine”, as well as a video clip bearing the caption “f*** Israel”.

The images he took were distributed by Anadolu and were used by outlets including New York Magazine, CNN and BBC News, according to German paper Bild.

Well who would have thought? I'm shocked.

But, for the defence:

Christopher Resch, the Middle East spokesman for Reporters Without Borders, defended Fteiha’s work, saying: “More context should have been provided for the image, but that doesn't make the situation any better.

"That's how many photographers around the world work. Of course, it's always about the effect.

"I don't think it's reprehensible if a photographer instructs people to stand here and there with their pots. As long as it roughly describes reality.”

"Roughly describes reality"?? You mean, the reality that the photographer wants to convey, not the actual reality. The photographer decides what the reality is, then manipulates the scene to convey that "reality". That's not journalism; that's propaganda. It's the same excuse used by those who published pictures of children with cerebral palsy and the like as a demonstration of the starvation in Gaza: it conveys their anti-Israel message very well no doubt, but it's lying.

He also urged caution about suggesting that photographers working in Gaza are controlled by Hamas, “otherwise, the impression easily arises that it's propaganda or a deliberate fabrication, and that has consequences”.

In the public's perception, these photographers are then placed close to combatants. That's brutally dangerous,” he said. “Once a name is circulating, these people receive death threats every second.”

So we should happily accept these staged photographs to protect the photographers? But of course he's conceding the point here: everything that comes out of Gaza is controlled by Hamas, under threat of death. We just have to pretend that's not true.