Frustrated reporters locked out of Gaza war zone

[Joanne98]

Source: AP


EREZ CROSSING, Israel (AP) — Israel scrapped arrangements Monday to allow the first foreign reporters into the Gaza Strip since the military launched its offensive against Palestinian militants, adding to mounting media frustration at being locked out of the war zone.

The ban on foreign media, which has been appealed to the Israeli Supreme Court, drew criticism from journalists that Israel is trying to manage the story.

Israel says opening border crossings for journalists would endanger staff at the terminals, which have often been targeted by militants. Israeli officials also say many foreign reporters are biased against Israel and easily manipulated or intimidated by Hamas.

The effect of the ban is to force many media outlets to rely on partisan reports from the Israeli military or Gaza's Hamas rulers and militants for information.

"Israel has never restricted media access like this before, and it should be ashamed," said Ethan Bronner, The New York Times bureau chief in Jerusalem. "It's betraying the principles by which it claims to live."

A few of the largest news organizations, including The Associated Press, have Palestinian reporters, photographers and cameramen based in Gaza. But other media have no reliable source of independent information.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goUzl1y11g_HlxWHezQ9Bbq1bHVgD95H4TEG1

[subsuelo]

1. they're probably lucky

if they were let in Israel would probably murder them too (like they did Fadel Shana, as one example)

[proud progressive]

2. ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING! israel and the u.s. trying to 'manage the story'? SHOCKING!

and what happened to their decision last week to let journalists in?

[nolabels]

14. Color me surprised also

Who would of ever thought a bunch of governmental plutocrats would ever try to manage news about a war zone :banghead:

[L0oniX]

3. What have they got to hide????

:sarcasm:

[ohio2007]

5. every picture tells a story

Why UN supplied Ambulances Sometimes Get Targeted By The IAF
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=116_1231063776


Muslim protesters wearing masks of, from left, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, take part in a rally against Israeli air strikes on Gaza, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009.
(AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rvablue]

6. If you bar reporters from an area, doesn't that pretty much mean you have something to hide?

:shrug:


Seems to be WE ALL would level the same criticism at our own government (i.e. returning coffins from Iraq) if they engaged in the same thing.

I'm just glad to see there are no misguided posts, YET, defending this anti-Democratic practice.

If their operations are justified, there should be no reason why journalists should not be let in order to share that with us all.

[ohio2007]

7. Syria cleans up nuclear reactor site ( no press allowed in )

Satellite photos reveal earlier build stage and after the Israeli bombing.
The Syrian site that Israel bombed last month show no traces of the early nuclear reactor site from new satellite photos. Israel will not confirm whether they bombed the site.

Syria denies that a nuclear reactor was under construction, insisting that what Israel hit was empty military warehouses dating back to the 1960s.





http://www.newsoxy.com/syria/article9893.html

[rvablue]

8. Right, they too probably had something to hide......your point is? n/t

[ohio2007]

11. al Jazeera IS reporting and othere ARE reporting in Gaza. your point is moot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o65LxRasqCo&NR=1

[rvablue]

12. My point is moot b/c AJ is there.....are you fucking kidding me?? Are

CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC, CBC there????????????? The French press? Any paper or media outlet at all from Europe? AJ is there b/c they couldn't leave if they wanted to.

You commentary is a sad, sad, sad, sad, reflection of your politics.

Would it have satisfied you if Bush had barred the American and European press from the seige of Baghdad and but AJ was there??? I think the answer to that question is a resounding NO, or else maybe this isn't the best place for you.

You need to check yourself.

[hack89]

10. Only if you assume the press is not biased

do you think the MSM is an honest broker of information?

[rvablue]

13. No, but the Palestinians have been screwed by the bias of the press just as much

as any group in the world.

And they want them there. At least to get SOME images out.

It's not the Palestinians, claiming media bias, who are keeping the press out. It is the Israeli government who is doing it. And they don't have much to fear from the MSM.

[OhioChick]

9. They don't want those horrific stories getting out. n/t

[fla nocount]

15. Frustrated is better than being rammed or shot out of the water. n/t

[rvablue]

16. Many would take the chance, believe me, in order for some truth to come out. n/t