The dust hasn't settled from Electronic Intifada's snit over Ethan Bronner. A few months ago, they accused the NY Times' Jerusalem bureau chief of having a conflict of interest because his son serves in the IDF. They sought to have Bronner re-assigned to another post.
But the fallout instead has forced out the Gray Lady's Gaza reporter, Taghreed El-Khodary. Not only can she no longer work from Gaza, it may no longer be safe for her to even return to the strip.
According to Daoud Kuttab:
When this controversy became public, Taghreed was away in the US on a training program and then a well deserved vacation, friends say. Her colleagues in Gaza have said that she decided not to return since because of obvious worry that her network of contacts would disappear and that she would have trouble writing or even moving around in Hamas controlled Gaza.
Anyone familiar with violent conflicts, like the one in Gaza, know how easy things can turn bad for a local journalists working for a publication who suddenly is in the limelight in a very negative way. El Khodary, who doesn't wear the traditional Islamic head dress even while covering events in Gaza, could have easily been the target of any hot headed Islamists who would use this case to score some points using her as a punching bag. She in known for her credibility and honesty in reporting — no wonder she disappeared. Gaza is such a hard place to cover and it's a challenge to gain such credibility . Her colleagues say she is not stupid to let that go by working with a boss in Jerusalem who has a son in the Israeli army that might march into Gaza any day.
When Electronic Intifada first revealed that Bronner had a son serving in the IDF, the paper's public editor, Clark Hoyt quickly called for Bronner to be reassigned, but executive editor Bill Keller nixed the idea.
So Gaza press freedom takes another hit with an unintended assist from Electronic Intifada and Clark Hoyt.
Hamas has totally cowed press corps. The MSM is strangely silent about the fate of UK journalist Paul Martin, who is still detained by Hamas. I wonder what the public editor — or Electronic Intifada for that matter — has to say about Khodary.
