Foreign media slams Hamas

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The Tel Aviv based Foreign Press Association has slammed Hamas for their treatment of journalists during the current conflict.

In a statement issued yesterday the association declared: “The FPA protests in the strongest terms the blatant, incessant, forceful and unorthodox methods employed by the Hamas authorities and their representatives against visiting international journalists in Gaza over the past month.

The international media are not advocacy organisations and cannot be prevented from reporting by means of threats or pressure, thereby denying their readers and viewers an objective picture from the ground.

In several cases, foreign reporters working in Gaza have been harassed, threatened or questioned over stories or information they have reported through their news media or by means of social media.

We are also aware that Hamas is trying to put in place a “vetting” procedure that would, in effect, allow for the blacklisting of specific journalists. Such a procedure is vehemently opposed by the FPA.

About the FPA:

Established in June 1957 by 31 enterprising journalists, the Foreign Press Association in Israel — known as the FPA — attempts to fulfill the same task today as it did at its inception — working to assist our members in covering the Middle East conflict…. The FPA is a legally registered private, non-profit organization operating solely on the basis of annual membership dues…. To date, the FPA numbers some 480 members representing TV, radio, photojournalists and print media from 32 countries reaching from Australia to Qatar, Africa to Europe, China to the USA.

It represents amongst others Le Monde, The New York Times, Reuters, the Guangming Daily, CBS Television, the Associated Press, Der Spiegel, the BBC, Danish Broadcasting Corp. and Bloomberg News. On its website, the FPA lists Australian journalists Matt Brown (ABC) and John Lyons (The Australian) as members.