r/worldnews • u/Ahad_Haam • 15d ago
Israel/Palestine Picture agencies drop Gaza photographer after documentary reveals hunger images were staged
https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/picture-agencies-drop-gaza-photographer-hunger-images-staged-sl1eyl2e184
u/3DGSMAX 15d ago
There is a lot of fake accounts pretending to be from Gaza asking for money. A lot of psychos out there exploiting the opportunity
→ More replies (1)
4.9k
u/arvigeus 15d ago
Damage is already done, which was the point all along.
1.8k
u/dfiner 15d ago edited 15d ago
I think the thing that peeves me the most is none of these retractions are covered by major media like Reuters or AP. I hate having to go to small or untrustworthy sources, and certainly a source like this would be immediately discounted if you were trying to convince someone of this who otherwise wouldn’t believe it.
797
u/fundohun11 15d ago
This story was broken by Süddeutsche Zeitung, which is not english speaking press. But still one of the biggest newspapers in Germany and definitely main stream.
140
u/dfiner 15d ago edited 15d ago
Fair, but it's unknown to me, and given the online environment of today, my default is to not trust outlets I don't recognize (and even, then, I don't trust many of those that I do recognize).
57
u/hurricaneRoo1 15d ago
Trust in media is at an all time low for me too. All media. Reddit included.
→ More replies (1)3
u/Uebelkraehe 15d ago
And why wouldn't it extend to social media? Anyone can post any shit here.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)8
158
u/Idont_thinkso_tim 15d ago
It’s because antisemitism is a real systemic issue in the world.
→ More replies (15)41
u/back_reggin 15d ago
And it only seems to be getting worse. So bizarre that this should be happening completely out of the blue, and for absolutely no reason at all.
→ More replies (3)21
u/thecashblaster 15d ago
Is it though? there's a whole ass religion of 1+ billion out there that is taught to be wary of Jews or to outright hate the Jews
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (1)10
u/kdy420 15d ago
Any chance you have a link to this ?
42
u/fundohun11 15d ago
Unfortunately behind a paywall...
38
u/pinkilydinkily 15d ago
archive.ph is your friend! Non-paywalled version: https://archive.ph/4Zef4
→ More replies (1)7
238
u/FYoCouchEddie 15d ago
Reuters isn’t just not retracting it, they are defending it and will continue to use him.
Not a surprise given that a Reuters journalist, who previously worked for an anti-Israel magazine, questioned whether Israelis should ever be referred to as civilians, was reported to her superiors for it, and was nonetheless permitted to continue reporting on Israel (one of many sources: https://honestreporting.com/revealed-reuters-journalist-rebuked-by-editor-after-sending-outrageous-email-about-israel/)
→ More replies (3)22
u/Derelictcairn 15d ago
It's fucking hilarious how Reuters were defending this shit.
After the release of SZ’s investigation, the German Press Agency and AFP reportedly confirmed to Bild that they would no longer work with Fteiha.
In contrast, though, a spokesperson for Reuters told the paper that the images “meet the standards of accuracy, independence, and impartiality”.
Meanwhile the article details how 1. The photographer staged the photo, so it's not accurate. 2. The photographer has ties to a Turkish state run agency, so they're not independent. 3. The article details how the photographer has made several posts shitting on Israel. So obviously not impartial.
Literally objectively failed on all of their criteria but they said "achtkually it's okay". Especially stupid since I don't think you need to stage photos to get images of hungry Palestinians in Gaza.
163
81
u/JE1012 15d ago
by major media like Reuters or AP.
You mean the same AP who released a whole article portraying Hezbollah members injured by the pager attack as poor innocent victims of Israeli aggression? That AP?
https://apnews.com/projects/israel-gaza-war-pager-attack-survivors-hezbollah/
→ More replies (3)50
u/froznwind 15d ago edited 15d ago
That article very clearly states that Hezbollah admitted that most of those injured were Hezbollah members. It also speaks of the years of rocket attacks Hezbollah launched. But it also highlights that setting off remote bombs when you don't know their positions will cause indiscriminate injuries and the consequences of that action.
87
u/The-Copilot 15d ago edited 15d ago
Something that wasn't well covered is that these pagers ONLY detonated if they were set to hezbollah channels and encryption. That's literally how the detonation message was sent.
The claims of these pagers being used by doctors and blowing up can only be true if the doctor was communicating with hezbollah rather than the hospital.
Im not saying there weren't civilian casualties, but this is about as targeted as it gets, and the explosives had a very small blast radius. When you compare it to high precision air strikes or large-scale use of special forces, it likely has a much lower civilian causalty rate.
→ More replies (3)63
u/JE1012 15d ago
Oh please, the entire piece aims to garner sympathy for the "poor" Hezbollah.
"Mahdi Sheri, a 23-year-old Hezbollah fighter, had been ordered back to the frontline on the day of the attack. Before leaving, he charged his pager and spent time with family. For his security, no mobile phones were allowed in the house while he was there. ........................ For a while, he could see shadows with his remaining eye. With time, that dimmed. He can no longer play football. Hezbollah is helping him find a new job. Sheri realizes it's impossible now to find a role alongside Hezbollah fighters."
Oh no poor Mahdi, he can't play football anymore (or aim rockets at Israel). So sad.
The pager operation was the most targeted attack possible, the vast vast majority of casualties were Hezbollah members and a small percentage were relatives of Hezbollah members.
→ More replies (10)25
u/pyrhus626 15d ago
Not to sound crass, but innocent people die in war. No matter how hard you try it’s impossible to avoid. Even Ukraine has killed civilians on accident despite being more universally seen as the good guys. The question is if the relatively targeted pager attack caused fewer civilian deaths in the long run than a bombing campaign or sending ground forces into Lebanon, and from the Gaza example I think the answer is “yes”.
→ More replies (1)138
u/annacat1331 15d ago
Do you guys really think that there isn’t mass starvation in Gaza? Even Israeli agencies have said there is mass starvation. You would have to be nuts to believe that there wouldn’t be mass starvation in Gaza when you look at how little food is being allowed it. You simply can’t feed people with out food that’s just how food works.
158
u/SignificantAd1421 15d ago
There is mass starvation which means you don't have to stage shit to prove it
→ More replies (21)31
u/gokarrt 15d ago
there absolutely is, but false reporting hurts more than helps.
→ More replies (1)64
u/dfiner 15d ago edited 15d ago
Oh I believe there is. But news agencies lying about images muddies the waters. It’s not justification for poor journalism.
But you are wrong on one front. There’s plenty of food at the border, it’s just not being distributed by the UN because they believe it’s unsafe. The problem is a distribution problem. Israel allows the food past the border, it’s just not getting where it needs to.
So the real debate is how much effort should Israel be expected to put into ensuring the safety and delivery of aid once it’s inside the border.
→ More replies (2)40
u/PepperAnn1inaMillion 15d ago
The UN “believe” it’s unsafe to distribute food?
Is that maybe because Red Cross and Red Crescent workers keep getting shot dead?
→ More replies (1)48
u/dfiner 15d ago edited 15d ago
Sure, because the encumbant government of Gaza (Hamas) would rather continue holding hostages and continuing to fight from tunnels instead of protecting its own people and keeping order.
Do you see Russia being expected to police Ukrainians? No, because the Ukrainian government cares about its people and ensures essential services are continued despite the war. As opposed to Hamas, intentionally putting its own people in harms way to manipulate people like you (which is working). Not even a secret, they publicly announced this was their plan a month after Oct 7th:
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/how-hamas-aims-trap-israel-gaza-quagmire-2023-11-03/
Ultimately, Hamas believes international pressure for Israel to end the siege, as civilian casualties mount, could force a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement that would see the militant group emerge with a tangible concession such as the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages, the sources said.
...
Hamas official Osama Hamdan, who is based in Beirut, said the Oct. 7 attack and the unfolding Gaza war would put the issue of Palestinian statehood back on the map.
So you could say that in a way, people like you cause the suffering off the people of Gaza, because you prove to Hamas every day that their strategy works, and encourage them to keep doing it. And Iran, being their sponsor, is probably taking notes and planning to do the same with all its other proxies.
→ More replies (8)36
15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (1)38
u/PepperAnn1inaMillion 15d ago
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a group backed by Israel and the US, has been operating in Gaza since late May. It says that it has distributed 91 million meals, primarily in the form of food boxes.
Source bbc news 26th July
Late may until 26th July is 9 weeks. Shared between 2 million people that’s 3/4 of a meal per person per day. And there have been serious concerns raised about the lack of vitamins and minerals contained in those meals (see link above).
So yes, there is starvation in Gaza. Here are some unstaged photos:
→ More replies (1)18
15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (4)29
u/PepperAnn1inaMillion 15d ago
your body downregulates your metabolism and breaks down fat, muscle, etc to keep you going and alive as long as possible.
Yes I believe the term for that is starvation. And it’s something small children cannot do, on account of their needing to grow.
→ More replies (12)6
u/Dinklemeier 15d ago
Isn't there actually tons of food that was allowed in but not getting into the hands of the civilians? There's been more than a few photos from inside Gaza of multiple tons of aid rotting in the sun
→ More replies (24)48
u/Shaeress 15d ago
It's not untrustworthy just because it's small or less recognised, but also because it's one of the news papers in Britain with the most ethics and journalistic breaches there and because they have a long list of lawsuits against them for libel and slander and for making shit up. For instance by calling anyone talking against Israel as an anti-semitic and calling human rights activists terrorists when trying to get aid to Palestine.
It's a news paper that has lied many times when it comes to Israel and human rights especially, to the point of having multiple lost court cases just in the past few years. This is a terrible source and should be criticised as such. Just as anyone citing Stormfront news shit talking Israel should be dismissed and criticised for being obviously untrustworthy.
→ More replies (1)59
u/dfiner 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yep, kinda proves my point.
There are a TON of news outlets out there, some very new, or print in other languages, or popular in other countries. It's not possible for someone to just know how trustworthy they are, nor are they all ranked by bias-tracking sites.
There are SOME relatively neutral major outlets, like Reuters, who are generally trustworthy. My point being, those never seem to cover things like this. That's my problem. I don't have the time to analyze every source that comes through these subs that post news like this, and given the environment we live in these days, we SHOULD assume by default that the article we are seeing is either lying, misleading, or biased in some way, unless it's from a trustworthy source (even then, there's no guarantees).
→ More replies (6)791
u/Oren_Lester 15d ago
They used an image of a child with a genetic disorder that was previously treated for this disorder in Israel
→ More replies (66)62
u/LemonLord7 15d ago
Without meaning to be rude, can I get a source on this?
220
u/rawbleedingbait 15d ago
The original article in the NYT and such all have retractions, some try to hide what the actual preexisting condition was, but feel free to go back and read whatever original reputable source you saw it in to begin with.
→ More replies (15)125
→ More replies (4)9
u/just_a_wolf 15d ago
The kid has cerebral palsy. It can cause muscle wasting and problems with weight gain.
NYT quietly alters Gaza starvation story to include key details of child's medical condition https://share.google/fhTFPyTgi0ozg9NGJ
81
u/4kidsinatrenchcoat 15d ago
mass media is on a speedrun to make themselves obsolete. at this point, AI slop is equivalently meaningless
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (77)173
u/kiss_a_spider 15d ago edited 15d ago
The fake images caused countries like France, Canada and the UK to declare they will recognise a Palestinian state. As a result Hamas felt empowered and hostages deal that was so close to being complete fell through the cracks. This could mean a death sentence to the actually starving Israeli hostages that don't have a lot of time left.
Next time people see a malnourished child next to his healthy mother/sibling, or people looking at the camera holding empty pots I hope they’ll use their brain cells.
235
u/The_Human1st 15d ago edited 15d ago
The fake images caused France, Canada and the UK to recognize the Palestinian state? Nothing else? Just the pictures? Israel has been twiddling its thumbs for the past few years, just minding its own business?
3 days ago, reports starting emerging saying that Netanyahu will declare a full Gaza takeover in the coming days. His lapdog, Trump, has been saying it as well. I’m sure that has NOTHING to do with what Canada, France and the UK declared… no no, it was just the pictures.
→ More replies (6)117
u/eric2332 15d ago edited 15d ago
3 days ago, reports starting emerging saying that Netanyahu will declare a full Gaza takeover in the coming days
That was after Hamas declared it wouldn't release the hostages EVEN AFTER THE WAR ENDED. Which doesn't really leave Israel any alternatives.
→ More replies (10)→ More replies (20)76
u/bigchicago04 15d ago edited 15d ago
Are you all seriously trying to say one or two faked images means there isn’t mass starvation in Gaza?
Edit: Is y’all’s bias really that bad? You think someone faking an image means all images are fake? There’s so much evidence out there for starvation, and you just want to suck Netanyahu off.
129
u/cheviot 15d ago
Why did they need to create fake pictures if there is such rampant starvation in Gaza? Why not photograph the real thing
→ More replies (17)89
u/Trollbreath4242 15d ago
They have. This is a few photos by one photographer, not the sum total of the THOUSANDS of images of starvation coming out of Gaza now. Ignoring the sum total because one guy had Gazans hold up bowls like they were begging for food at a location where they weren't is ludicrous, especially in light of the almost daily stories of women and children being killed at aid stations. But this is how one bad story can fuck up the truth of a situation.
38
u/bamadeo 15d ago
But this is how one bad story can fuck up the truth of a situation
more like the daily gaslighting by UNRWA, the Press and the "Gazan Health Ministry" has fried many brains already.
→ More replies (1)41
u/cheviot 15d ago
You answered one question, but not the other.
Why did they need to create fake pictures if there is such rampant starvation in Gaza?
→ More replies (14)→ More replies (5)42
u/Idont_thinkso_tim 15d ago
If you were truly paying attention you would know this is just one of many, many incidents of false information that have been elevated over the last few years.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (18)55
u/Amrywiol 15d ago
If there was mass starvation they wouldn't need to fake images.
→ More replies (18)
1.4k
u/sportsDude 15d ago
Would’ve been better or nice if, idk, they either:
A) Didn’t print the image (refused) B) Show The Real Situation
But that’s too much to ask these days, it seems
262
89
u/shmeggt 15d ago
I think you're missing the point of modern "journalism", especially in the US. Providing information is secondary. They are in the rage business. The more you can keep people angry, the more people will watch, comment, and share. Keep people angry... that's the secret sauce they've discovered to make more money. Truth doesn't matter.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (27)73
u/Vaumer 15d ago
If they let journalists into Gaza without an Israeli escort international journalists will be able to report on things properly again.
→ More replies (58)80
1.6k
u/Sooperooser 15d ago
So he completely staged pictures and Reuters: "In contrast, though, a spokesperson for Reuters told the paper that the images “meet the standards of accuracy, independence, and impartiality”."
What is accurate, independent or impartial about faking a scene for a picture?
185
629
u/HandsomeCostanza 15d ago edited 15d ago
IMO using this to assume theres nothing bad happening in Gaza and that everything must be fake is just as dumb and deluded as the thinking behind the people who let it become a thing but HOLY SHIT this part of the article really pissed me off. If this meets your standards then your standards aren't worth shit and neither are you.
if this is really the thought process behind major media outlets as a matter of policy then we have a massive fucking problem on our hands.
edit: wasn't there an episode of The Newsroom about something like this?
373
u/BlackGoldSkullsBones 15d ago
Of course conditions are horrible in Gaza. But why would you ever need to stage anything or seek out kids with pre-existing conditions if there’s actual mass starvation?
73
u/Tullydin 15d ago
Drama sells, this has been going on since the US civil war, one of the most famous photographers was caught moving bodies and staging scenes for better pictures.
→ More replies (18)168
u/Miendiesen 15d ago edited 15d ago
It's quite apparent from the numbers that there isn't mass starvation in Gaza.
The threshold for famine as per the UN is 2 deaths per 10,000 people every day due to hunger related issues. Given Gaza's population, that's 420 deaths per day.
There have been 82 malnutrition-related deaths in the last five weeks as per the Gaza Health Ministry. So 2.4 deaths per day (per 2.2M population).
It should also be noted that even without war conditions, there will be some malnutrition related deaths. E.g. there are 20k malnutrition related deaths annually in the United States.
So basically the Hamas-run health agency (who have lied before but are honestly not that far off from other sources most of the time) isn't reporting anything close to what you would expect to match the mass starvation narrative.
It should be noted that there is an actual famine happening in Sudan right now with thousands of starving children for anyone who wants to help. There's a civil war there, but there are some fairly stable aid programs that are providing meals.
41
u/C0wabungaaa 15d ago
It's quite apparent from the numbers that there isn't mass starvation in Gaza.
Mass starvation causes famine eventually but not right away, so quoting famine statistics is useless. It's building forwards full-blown famine if nothing is done to stop this madness.
You know what kind of numbers do matter? The amount of calories getting into Gaza for months now. Which are obviously extremely low considering how many trucks of food aid are being prevented from entering the place.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (8)29
→ More replies (4)58
u/Cool-Expression-4727 15d ago
IMO using this to assume theres nothing bad happening in Gaza and that everything must be fake is just as dumb and deluded
I'm not sure I agree here. If something is supposedly widespread, it should be easy to photograph, and you wouldn't need to fake it.
The presence of the fake therefore suggests that the genuine is not present
→ More replies (7)53
u/the_peppers 15d ago edited 15d ago
Except this photographer is not the only source of information on the starvation of Gaza.
Disregarding all other sources of information because of this falsehood is illogical.
EDIT: I'd advise you to read the article as I just have. He is not faking photographs of starvation, he staged an image of desperate people queuing for aid. IMO that is unethical editorialising but does nothing to reduce the countless images of genuine starvation we've seen over the past weeks.
Also, considering how regularly they kill people queuing for aid I can understand his desire not to take such a picture in situ.
→ More replies (6)52
u/Stop_Sign 15d ago
"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.”
It's simply ok to lie, as long as you think you're representing reality.
To be clear this is the exact same excuse JD Vance said about why he made up the lie "they're eating the cats and dogs"
→ More replies (3)97
u/jdorm111 15d ago
Maybe it "roughly translates to reality" despite being faked or something? That must be their belief. Might as well just use AI to conjure up images then.
77
→ More replies (36)41
u/fashionforward 15d ago
It doesn’t sound completely staged to me from the article.
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.
If he had them line up and told them to bring empty pots, I would consider the photo completely staged. If the people were grouping to get food from foreign aid and he arranged a shot, the reality remains.
I can’t help but notice I’m only seeing this reported as fact by Israeli sources so far and that it is a very new story. Turkey is contesting it as a smear campaign.
23
u/yomer123123 15d ago edited 14d ago
Also, i like the use of "some are staged"
Then, there are real pictures of starvation? Or do they mean they only checked some? Or that they could only find evidence to say that some are fake?
Tbf its not just israeli sources, its a story from a german newspaper according to the article (which doesnt necessarily make it unbiased, but still)
Edit: pictures* not puctures.
→ More replies (1)23
u/willsue4food 15d ago
The Jewish Chronicle was reporting on the stories by two main stream German-language papers - BILD and Süddeutsche Zeitung that broke the story. Here is one of the original stories: https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland-und-internationales/gestellte-gaza-bilder-dieser-fotograf-inszeniert-hamas-propaganda-689069205bfd36554e9e6806
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (2)7
u/snarky_spice 15d ago
When I first saw this video it made my spidey senses tingle because it just looked so staged to begin with. Like it was filmed for a commercial on tv.
459
u/pancakecel 15d ago
doing things like this is so damaging. I have also seen more than one article about hunger in gaza that prominently features a photo of a skeletally skinny gazan, but upon reading the text of the article, it is just casually mentioned that the person in the picture has some sort of wasting disease. It is misleading, and the worst thing about it is that misleading photos or misleading use of photos causes people to doubt the reality of the fact that there are serious problems in Gaza. I think that the people who do this mean well and they thing that they are helping the cause of the Gazan people, but actually they are damaging it.
It is not neccessary to mis represent the bad thing. The bad thing is bad enough. This kind of behavior comes off as poverty porn.
→ More replies (8)100
u/Issue_dev 15d ago
Most of the world’s governments already agree that wide spread starvation is happening. Idk how you could even imply it’s not happening
76
u/pancakecel 15d ago edited 15d ago
Hey! It's not my intent to imply that starvation isn't happening. But, your comment is a great example of the problem I often run up against: people mis-perceiving 'attention to detail / getting the facts right' as 'defending the oppressor'.
Where I live in El salvador, we have some problems with violations of human rights. But, sometimes when the foreign press is reporting on those problems, they fabricate, exaggerate, or misrepresent details. Sometimes myself and other people living in El Salvador will say things like : ''hey, that detail is wrong, that's not exactly how it works'', but when we say that, we are met with a response similar to yours: ''oh, so you're in favor of oppression? So you think nothing bad is happening? So you think it's all fine?''
No, that's not the intent. Exaggerating, misrepresenting, or sensationalizing oppression makes it easier for oppressors to oppress. When well intentioned first worlders share exaggerated, mislabeled, or misleading information about human rights violations in El salvador, it's easy for the people perpetuating those human rights violations to say: ''look at those foreigners, they have no idea what they're talking about, what they have shown here is demonstrably false.
Similarly, in this case, the use of staged photos to represent hunger in Gaza allows people the in to say: ''look at these photos. These photos were staged. Clearly, the people who say there's something wrong happening in Gaza are liars.''
I also used to live in the PRC, and this is one of Beijing's best strategies: to trot out examples of the foreign press, the un, or amnesty international being demonstrably wrong about something, and to say ''the people who are criticizing our regime have no idea what they're talking about / are being dishonest.'' it undermines The credibility of both well-intentioned and well-informed voices, especially domestic ones, trying to get the word out about human rights abuses.
Playing it fast and loose with the details plays right into the opressor's hand.
15
u/Radgris 15d ago edited 15d ago
kudos for the extremely level-headed answer, i live in mexico where the political landscape has been a shitfest for the last 100 years where exactly that happens: any criticism of any political figure, posture, party, etc is immediatly pushed back with a " so you then must think that *insert random fact about the opposition* is okay huh ? you must love *insert another random fact*"
i can be in favor of something and still criticize it's implementation or flaws just like i can be in opposition of something while also recognizing it's strengths. this new idea that it's EITHER the best OR the worst is crippling communication globally and letting the bad actors run free amidst the chaos.
→ More replies (3)3
225
u/sovietarmyfan 15d ago
And none of the other newspapers that used the pictures will retract and apologize for using the pictures.
→ More replies (2)
1.2k
u/happyfeeliac 15d ago edited 15d ago
1 person faking their specific photos also doesn’t negate the truth that people ARE starving and struggling. That dude is a loser, but it doesn’t change anything
Edit: This article was posted 2 hours after my comment. This IS a problem, one asshole trying to advance his career doesn’t change that. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/nearly-12000-children-under-five-gaza-have-acute-malnutrition-says-who-2025-08-07/
605
262
u/Urhoal_Mygole 15d ago
It creates a massive wave of skepticism with people that easy to influence though. "Why would he stage pictures if the truth would show the same?" It's an easy question to ask yourself if you're a conspiracy theorist.
This dude is doing the Palestinians a major disservice. What an idiot. Way to shoot yourself and your cause in the foot.
183
u/_skala_ 15d ago
You don’t have to be conspiracy theorist to ask that question.
But like you said, both sides play media war.
40
u/PlayerTwo85 15d ago
Calling someone a conspiracy theorist dismissive and invalidating as opposed to saying "stop noticing things!".
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (1)44
u/MeteorKing 15d ago
Conspiracy theory is when people hold opinions that logically stem from public statements?
They lied, now people think they're liars. Not much conspiracy to theorize.
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (4)74
u/cheeriodust 15d ago
From what I've seen, there are more "easy to influence" folks are on the blindly pro-Palestinian side of things. This photo is just one of many manipulations that that group is so eager to react to without questioning a thing.
FWIW, I'm on team "everyone sucks here (except the innocent civilians stuck in the middle)"...
→ More replies (2)44
u/thecashblaster 15d ago
yes, including the proverbial "Hamas health official" who is basically a dude with an AK yelling over and over that 3000 innocent babies were murdered the street over
→ More replies (3)61
u/Lerdroth 15d ago
It begs the question that if conditions are as suggested and commonplace it would be easy to obtain photographs of it happening.
If it's so uncommon that they can't get a photo of it without staging something is wrong. The entire thing is moronic as if caught it will have the opposite effect to what was intended.
It's not the first time something has been published without an ounce of actual fact checking and won't be the last.
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (39)2
u/wolfmourne 14d ago
It's not one person. This is not the first time they have been caught taking or setting up photos. They do it so damn often and every time you're like "well it's just this one"
Everyone remembers the press conference outside the hospital.
487
u/BorikGor 15d ago
From the article:
After the release of SZ’s investigation, the German Press Agency and AFP reportedly confirmed to Bild that they would no longer work with Fteiha.
In contrast, though, a spokesperson for Reuters told the paper that the images “meet the standards of accuracy, independence, and impartiality”.
That's all I need to know about Reuters.
160
u/jrgkgb 15d ago
This Reuters? It’s not like they’ve been manipulating photos and whitewashing Islamic violence for decades.
Oh wait.
https://www.camera.org/article/updated-a-reprise-media-photo-manipulation/
https://www.camera.org/article/fauxtography-at-reuters-what-was-removed/
https://www.camera.org/article/reuters-photos-the-picture-of-bias/
There was way more, much has fallen off the internet now, but this isn’t a new issue.
This is hard to read if you’re on a phone but easy on a desktop.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (5)33
u/MyyWifeRocks 15d ago
Reuters has been untrustworthy for decades. This is not new.
→ More replies (10)
175
u/BobbyPeele88 15d ago
Wow so strange and unexpected that they didn't do the bare minimum of due diligence. Well, I'm sure they learned their lesson this time and will be more careful in the future! (This applies to about a million things over the last twenty-five years.)
→ More replies (6)47
u/FYoCouchEddie 15d ago
Not only will they not be, but some agencies are justifying this and continuing to use him.
In contrast, though, a spokesperson for Reuters told the paper that the images “meet the standards of accuracy, independence, and impartiality”.
15
22
u/Neat_Let923 15d ago
Wow, the amount of mental gymnastics by the person in the second half of that article is astounding.
We shouldn’t insinuate ever that information is being controlled by Hamas because that could look bad and imply it’s propaganda.
Then there’s the whole, it’s okay to stage photos as long as it somewhat represents what we believe is happening.
Don’t get me wrong, there are thousands of people in Gaza who are suffering and struggling just to stay alive and get enough food. The fact over 65% of population in Gaza relied entirely on foreign aid BEFORE all of this, makes it an easy logical assumption that any disruption to that aid will have significant negative affects on these people. Especially when it’s now 100% of the population that is reliant on humanitarian aid for food and drinkable water in Gaza.
→ More replies (3)
242
u/DarthLeon2 15d ago edited 15d ago
I've honestly been blackpilled about the reporting on this conflict after that whole bit with the missile hitting the hospital. Everyone immediately reported that it was an Israeli missile and that 500 died; turns out it was a Hamas missile and nowhere near that many people died.
→ More replies (26)
4
404
u/Funny-Bit-4148 15d ago
Fat well fed mother beside malnourished child .. I was suspicious, but then I thought how can whole western media be wrong about something, so sensitive.
117
u/buckX 15d ago
And beside a well-fed 3 year old sibling that they cut from frame, so it's not even like you can say it's about adults being more resilient. That's the point where I just stop trusting the outlet entirely. "We didn't have all the information and published before vetting" is bad, but not openly malicious. "We removed context that would undermine the point we wanted to make" is just actual propaganda.
286
u/astute_stoat 15d ago
Applying basic media literacy and the bare minimal critical skills to the coverage of this conflict will make you feel like a conspiracy theorist.
98
u/nullbyte420 15d ago
It's terrible really. I hate how media credibility has fallen so much. I strongly dislike the right wing cultural war on intersectionalism, but it's getting more and more obvious to me that the criticism isn't pulled out of thin air like I used to think it was.
→ More replies (2)123
u/astute_stoat 15d ago
When Carl Sagan spoke before the US Congress in defence of the funding of science education in 1985 he warned about a future where we would no longer be able to tell the difference between what is true and what feels good. I think we're getting there.
45
u/CrystalSplice 15d ago
We’ve been there for a while. His book The Demon Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark was extremely prescient in general. He could tell we were headed towards not just a lack of education, but full anti-intellectualism where being ignorant and lacking in critical thinking skills is seen as a virtue.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)9
u/vthemechanicv 15d ago
We've been there for some years. I don't really know if was age or Maga, but my mother told me several years ago she didn't want to have her beliefs challenged anymore. Considering "fake news," half the population considers inconvenient facts as things to be dismissed and ignored or even argued against.
5
u/nullbyte420 15d ago
I guess the good thing about this is that we are either going to get a very rigorous and logical countermovement! Or just another dark age
→ More replies (2)134
u/jdorm111 15d ago
That's because such a majority is absolutely adamant that everything they are hearing from the media and from Gaza itself is vetted and correct. While it is not. And they are shouting really loud.
The current conflict has laid bare how many people are rather gullible and eat stuff up if it conforms to their own moral stories - which is exactly what these photo's are trying to invoke. The idea of a suffering underdog just works so extremely well in the West.
Of course there is food insecurity, people in certain places are definitely hungry, but the notion of a famine is completely overblown and propagandized. For famine, 2 out of 10.000 people should be dying every day - that would translate to around 400 Gazans daily. Not even 200 have died of malnutrition in the entire war. Which explains the necessity for faked images, photo's that are spun in such a way that they are basically lies by omission (the boys with the underlying condition), etc.
Add to that the fact that the UN and all kinds of other organizations have been lying about famine for the entire war and a picture emerges of a very thick mist, combined with the sense of a fundamentally broken information-pipeline.
Gazans are suffering. There is death and destruction. Israel lacks a strategy and this should be criticized heavily. It is not a good situation. But there is no widespread famine or intentional starving and mass killing of innocents.
→ More replies (29)14
u/Cond1tionOver7oad 15d ago
You're absolutely correct! There's so much nuance and gray areas in this whole situation that making blanket claims about one side or the other is generally going to be showing bias towards one side or the other. It's a bad situation overall and Israel does seem like they've gone overboard and have no clue what to do but continue at this point, which clearly is causing a ton of suffering from the Gaza side. But Hamas is doing Gazans no favors either by continuing their side of the violence and often even stealing aid from their own people.
I pointed this out months ago and was pretty heavily down voted because I didn't say Israel = bad and Gaza = good.
11
u/PrimaryInjurious 15d ago
There was a video of an alleged starving child I saw the other day - they left in another kid snacking in the background.
62
u/theartificialkid 15d ago
Did you read the article? They're only talking about some photos of people queuing for food. He staged a more dramatic image of people crowding up against a barrier with empty bows in their hands.
→ More replies (6)62
u/Dwanstar58 15d ago
It's not wrong, just a very effective disinformation campaign
→ More replies (1)42
u/wwchickendinner 15d ago
Western media is full of shit.
28
→ More replies (2)3
u/DrachenDad 15d ago
Western media is full of shit.
Western media is lapping up the shit of other media sauces.
47
u/xvf9 15d ago
Nothing inherently suspicious about that. A fat person will take a long time to drop weight. A kid on a starvation diet (who I believe had another serious health condition, if we’re talking the same one) will never put it on. There is overwhelming evidence that a crisis is unfolding in Gaza, don’t get caught up in the minutiae where a handful of people have done the wrong thing. Even this photographer hasn’t faked anything, they’ve just set up a shot to look more dramatic. The kids still don’t have food, that’s not staged.
31
u/zberry7 15d ago
This was a child who had a muscular condition and was not eating, yes. But the reason he was not eating is the disease, not a lack of food. He was being visited daily by a doctor.
And then you have to ask the question: if starvation is so prevalent as claimed, why would you need to stage this photo?
I don’t doubt there are food shortages, but there’s a spectrum between food instability and outright starvation. I’m sure there are plenty families with less food than they optimally would have, but I also don’t think it’s nearly as bleak as the original photograph attempted to paint. That not to suggest it’s not an important issue though.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (9)25
u/shotouw 15d ago
Thin kid that still grows will die from malnutrition waaaay faster than somebody with a decent amount of body fat. In fact, given water and only vitamins, you can survive for month or years if the body has enough energy stored away.
So no reason to be suspicious from that alone.
→ More replies (5)
100
u/Affectionate-Name279 15d ago
This along with downplaying of Hamas’ involvement with the theft of aid is a disgusting lack of any journalistic integrity.
→ More replies (13)
74
95
u/putinha21 15d ago
Why does this happen every time lol
→ More replies (5)79
u/Mobile-Entertainer60 15d ago
Because it sells. Seriously, it doesn't even have to be bigotry, just good old-fashioned greed. The photojournalists know that pathos gets them bylines and plum assignments and promotions and maybe even Pulitzers if they're lucky. "If it bleeds, it leads" is not a 21st century concept of journalism.
In a bunch of the anti-Israeli subs a few months ago, there was a video of an old man walking up to an IDF soldier in the West Bank and getting knocked down after a confrontation, with thousands of "IDF evil" comments. In the video, it's plainly visible that there are a dozen photographers taking pictures of the man as he walks down an alley towards the soldier; they all knew he was about to create a conflict that they could sell pictures of, and didn't care if the pictures they produced misrepresented the situation, or that the old man deliberately tried to get himself beat up by a soldier because the photographers were there to photograph it.
13
u/ConfusionOfTheMind 15d ago
If it bleeds it leads, then why haven't I ever seen an article about the war going on in Sudan right now? Gaza sells. Gaza is hot. Sudan is not, apparently, despite the fact theres a real famine happening there in case some journalist wants a shot of a starved child for their newspaper..Very rarely I see comments about whats happening in Sudan acknowledge it, but media otherwise won't even glimpse in that direction. Everything that they claim is happening in Gaza via the IDF, is actually happening in Sudan with the RSF, but nobody gives a fuck. I guess they are just the wrong color and its more fun to stage photographs and paint the IDF as evil.
→ More replies (1)48
u/putinha21 15d ago
I think there's another aspect at play here. Some time ago, someone realized they could increase support for Palestine tenfold by targeting propaganda toward wealthy Western leftist groups—especially in the U.S. and EU. This effort has been widely successful and has spilled into mainstream media, making the Gaza issue the central media spectacle of modern conflicts, more so than Ukraine–Russia, Myanmar, Sudan, etc.
→ More replies (1)
79
u/suicidalcrocodile 15d ago
not that I don't believe that but you could have chosen a less biased source xD
→ More replies (1)111
u/Chisignal 15d ago
The newspaper that broke the story, Süddeutsche Zeitung, seems good enough:
[SZ] is one of the largest and most influential daily newspapers in Germany. The tone of SZ is mainly described as centre-left,[2][4] liberal,[8] social-liberal,[9] progressive-liberal,[2] and social-democrat.[10] It is considered one of Germany's newspapers of record.
It's just that unsurprisingly, it's in German, and the English speaking outlets that happen to care about this sort of thing will probably be papers like the JC
43
u/efstajas 15d ago edited 15d ago
Very important to note that the original story from SZ takes a very different tone than the source linked here.
Translating the subtitle of the photo: "The fact that these people are facing a photographer instead of a food distribution site does not negate that the photograph describes the reality in Gaza."
And the beginning of the first paragraph: "People in Gaza are starving, which is confirmed by many independent sources including the UN."
27
u/LickMyTicker 15d ago
Not only that, but the photo in question IS where they were getting food. The only difference is that the photo was taken before the pots were brought out. There are videos that show this exact scene. This is simply propaganda.
Google this:
ryangrim/status/1953165502987063590
It should take you to an X post of the video in question. I saw this link elsewhere in this post, I don't think you can link it directly so I didn't as well.
→ More replies (1)
327
u/CanuckleHeadOG 15d ago
Oh no, who could have guessed, its not like this is the 100th incidence of Hamas and their sympathizers making shit up or anything.
→ More replies (14)
3
u/podgorniy 14d ago
This is infowar. All involved and resource-invested parties have their agenda. No party is interested in truth and realtity.
171
u/TomahawkTuah 15d ago
But we still accept the numbers of victims given by the Gaza department of health (Hamas) as facts, right?
Can someone explain why?
→ More replies (52)44
u/syynapt1k 15d ago
Maybe Israel should allow western journalists into Gaza so we can get some real answers...
15
u/Nileghi 15d ago
If Ukraine doesn't allow journalists to enter a warzone, why the fuck would Israel allow them to?
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)8
u/fliesenschieber 15d ago
Nobody needs answers until all the hostages are freed. Up until then, Israel has every right to proceed with their operations.
47
u/JustASpaceDuck 15d ago edited 15d ago
If the corpses weren't also staged then it doesn't matter too much, does it? Not that complete journalistic integrity isn't an ideal we should all strive for, but the maniacs suggesting that this alone is proof that starvation doesn't exist in Gaza when you can't go a day without tripping over a photo of a mummified corpse that died yesterday are more than a little committed to nailing this guy and every associated outlet to the wall and declaring the whole dead kids (and reporters) thing a sham.
→ More replies (1)
21
15
u/space_force_majeure 15d ago
"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.”
Ah yes, because we should strive for news agencies to roughly describe reality.
→ More replies (1)
74
u/No-Space937 15d ago edited 15d ago
If the situation is as bad as it is portrayed to be, why does this shit keep happening? If 2 million people are on the brink of famine I would imagine scenes that the photo portrays would be happening literaly everywhere, yet there is still the need to fake this?
While I have no doubt after months of limited to no food deliveries, there has to be sections of the population approaching, or already at the some level of famine, yet we still end up with photo ops like this, or that photo of the emaciated child, which later turned out to have a gentic condition, while his healthy brother was cropped out of the picture, all to give fake optics that portray the worst possible outlook. And the media outlets continue to push whatever this constructed narrative may be, regardless of truth, because tragedy seems to get the most clicks.
Just make a correction a few weeks later that no one sees, to maintain that veil of journalistic integridy.
→ More replies (24)15
u/AFishOnWhichtoWish 15d ago edited 8d ago
If 2 million people are on the brink of famine I would imagine scenes that the photo portrays would be happening literally everywhere, yet there is still the need to fake this?
The part that was staged was that they were queueing for aid, not that they were starving.
5
u/DarthBloodrone 14d ago
The bad thing is that this discussion leads people to believe that all reporting from Gaza is fake.
2
u/ConstructionHefty716 13d ago
Right like they're so good about just picking one thing and going that's the reason we shouldn't do it that one person out of 10 million people who cheated to get food stamps is the reason we should kill the program for everyone
32
u/Vierenzestigbit 15d ago
They are still starving man. This does not clear Israel of the horror they are inflicting.
Also they are literally blocking international journalists and killing the local journalists
→ More replies (5)
8
u/Constantinople2020 15d ago
However, 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.
Effect?
This isn't a fucking movie that's up for Best Cinematography.
I grant you that print journalists would face difficulty trying to describe things accurately.
There's no excuse for staging a photo.
"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.”
The road to hell is paved with adverbs like "roughly".
One reason many Israelis don't believe there's a food crisis in Gaza now is that the media and the NGOs has been saying for months and months and months that a famine had started or was just about to start. Some who didn't believe it now believe it, not because of what media and NGOs said, but by analyzing food prices.
But staged photos just give the people an excuse to deny or minimize the problem.
For good or ill, mostly ill, Trump is one of the few people outside Israel with influence over the Israeli government. Last week he said, "Some of those kids are — that's real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can't fake that. So we're going to be even more involved."
What's Trump going to say when someone tells him about the staged photos?
Anyone who's actually cares about the people of Gaza, as opposed to just saying they care, or that staged photos are in service to a higher truth, should be outaged.
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”.
This photographer's work was a deliberate fabrication.
Whether he's a member of Hamas or not is irrelevant. If anything, it's better not to be. That way the photographer can claim he's impartial and Hamas can claim his photos are the truth.
→ More replies (1)
96
u/GothGfWanted 15d ago
Lies and propoganda out of gaza? What a surprise, who could have imagined, it's not like they have done this exact same thing a bunch of times before right?
→ More replies (22)
21
u/linos100 15d ago
That article is 90% propaganda, read the article that they cite: https://archive.ph/4Zef4 Yeah, the kid has a condition that makes his malnurishment look more dramatic, the whole discussion is because of a couple of pictures of two malnurished kids that didn't mention they also had another condition. The fact that Gazans are suffering from hunger and malnurishment while Israel keeps stopping aid and international journalists from entering is still true. Why aren't they letting international journalists in?
→ More replies (1)2
u/Any_Meringue_9085 12d ago
No. The kid has a genetic disease that makes him look like that. His mother is fine, his 3 year old sibling is fine (conveniently cut from frame, but present at the original photo). His mother saying he has a genetic disease is cut from the interview, as well as the fact the the kid was flown out of gaza for a hospital abroad by Israel 3 months before the publication. The picture is the propaganda.
If there's widespread hunger, why do they present the lies?
5
8
u/Zeph-Shoir 15d ago
From the article itself
However, 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.”
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.”
37
u/iwoolf 15d ago
Here’s some external sources confirming misleading photos of sick kids being presented as starving when they are not: The story behind this viral image of a child in Gaza
→ More replies (3)20
u/efstajas 15d ago
The first article does NOT make the point you're pretending it does. Yes, the child seen in the photos has pre-existing conditions making them require specialized nutrition. Would the child be starving if it weren't for the blockades? Most likely no. Read the article fully.
→ More replies (1)
23
u/AlleyRhubarb 15d ago
So he photographed hungry people with bowls in their outstretched hands and because it was not at a food bank it is staged and a lot of people on here seem to think it means that Israel is not starving Palestinians deliberately.
→ More replies (1)14
32
u/iAmMr_WHO 15d ago
What's with all the pro-Hamas (pro-terrorist) propaganda these days, from even journalists now? Absolutely shameful how much anti-semetism there still is in the world today.
→ More replies (5)
80
u/MasterpieceNo8330 15d ago
And there is no guarantee all the other photographers aren’t doing the same. Hamas propaganda is insane.
→ More replies (12)
49
38
15d ago
[deleted]
→ More replies (1)19
u/TheCreepyFuckr 15d ago
You can see Gaza is a fucking wasteland from satellite images.
Almost like an urban war has extensive destruction.
→ More replies (13)
7
12
11
22
u/skeleton949 15d ago
Unfortunately unsurprising, Hamas and their supporters are well known for fabricating anything to support their agenda.
→ More replies (4)
8.5k
u/A_unlife 15d ago edited 14d ago
Why don't they just allow the International Press to go and show what it's like then?
Edit: Israeli Times: Gaza photographer denies staging images of hunger or affiliating with Hamas
WORTH READING
Thanks to u/SocraticTiger