In a significant success for HonestReporting, a spokesperson for Reuters confirmed on Tuesday (April 1) that the news agency had removed images from its global database by compromised Gazan photojournalists following the media watchdog’s campaign. This included images by a photojournalist with ties to terrorists and who was pictured being kissed by former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The agency acted quietly, after initially doubling down on its decision to sell the images by Hassan Eslaiah and other compromised Gazan photojournalists via the state-run Turkish agency Anadolu.
Reuters has also removed images by Mohammed Fayq Abu Mostafa, who was exposed by HonestReporting for infiltrating Israel during Hamas’ massacre on October 7, 2023 — as was Eslaiah — and for publicly laughing at the atrocities he’d witnessed before calling on Gazans to go to the border and “grab a settler.”
On March 6, HonestReporting revealed that Reuters and Getty Images had been distributing the tainted content of Abu Mostafa and Eslaiah in collaboration with Anadolu — an arrangement that seems to have enabled the media companies’ profit without liability and allowed a back route for compromised journalists into Western media.
Getty Images, to their credit, swiftly removed all content that was flagged by HonestReporting. Reuters, however, gave us the following statement referring to the “Connect” platform it operates:
Reuters Connect is a commercial marketplace with content from more than 100 news organizations, allowing media customers the option to select the content that is most relevant to their news cycle. This content is clearly labeled and is not endorsed by Reuters.
In response, HonestReporting launched a public campaign calling on Reuters to remove hundreds of images by the compromised photojournalists, resulting in thousands of emails that were sent to the agency’s top editors.
When we checked Reuters’ platform again on April 1, we discovered that in contradiction to the agency’s former announcement, all Anadolu material by Eslaiah and Abu Mostafa had been removed — without notification or explanation. It was also no longer on the database of the Turkish agency.
So we reached out to Reuters again, and a spokesperson had to admit that HonestReporting indeed flagged “problems” that had to be investigated and fixed:
When informed about possible problems with certain content from one news organization on the Reuters Connect platform, we investigated and took it down because the material didn’t comply with our partner content policy.
Related Reading: Reuters and Getty Images Give Platform to Gaza Photojournalist Kissed by Hamas’ Sinwar
While we are satisfied with the success of our mission, we are still waiting to hear why no action has been taken against another Anadolu photojournalist mentioned in our exposé — Ashraf Amra. Not only did he infiltrate Israel on October 7, he also hosted an Instagram Live with Abu Mostafa in which they called on Gazans to storm the border, and he was honored by former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
Abu Mostafa, a freelancer who has been working for Reuters, says: “We were there two hours ago, since the beginning” & details what he saw at the border & in Sderot.
He describes the breaking into a room where Israelis were hiding before being taken by Hamas terrorists. pic.twitter.com/5kCAVIglFF
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) January 8, 2024
After we exposed them in January 2024, Reuters distanced itself from Amra and Abu Mostafa, who used to freelance directly for the wire service. But that’s exactly why both of them should never have any foothold there again, via a third party or not.
Related Reading: Broken Borders: AP & Reuters Pictures of Hamas Atrocities Raise Ethical Questions
Either way, HonestReporting can claim a significant success. We’ve exposed an unethical media arrangement, and held a major news outlet accountable — with your help.
As a result, a “news laundering” route for compromised Gazan journalists has been shut down. We believe that anyone who operated side by side with Hamas as the terrorists massacred Jews on October 7, 2023, should not have any access to respectable media outlets.
One of these journalists was quoted last week lamenting his lack of livelihood. But what he said testifies to our success in holding the media to account (albeit using non-violent campaigns despite his claim):
“These accusations have affected me and my colleagues,” said Qudih. “[News agencies] stopped giving us work. In February 2024, Reuters warned me that they would no longer be able to accept my photos due to how violent the campaign against them was.”
Interestingly, Reuters publicly stood by this journalist — Yasser Qudih — after HonestReporting exposed that he had infiltrated Israel on October 7 and was honored as a Hamas “work partner.”
So it seems that, as with the Anadolu fiasco, Reuters prefers to save face and take remedial action behind the scenes, possibly to avoid acknowledging HonestReporting’s effectiveness.
Next time — and there will undoubtedly be a next time — we call on the agency to publicly admit ethical violations with full transparency.
After all, ethics and transparency are the very values it claims to uphold.
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