This analysis by Honest Reporting, purporting to "prove" that mainstream media photographers colluded Friday with locals in a stonethrowing incident in Jerusalem that resulted in a hit and run, could use a reality check.
I’ll break it down according to the HR breakdown:
1. The Location — Silwan isn’t really the most tense place. Photographers waiting for stone-throwings would be more likely to go to places like Bilin or Hebron.
Please. Silwan is always tense, and has been since the first intifada, when I first reported on it, especially Fridays — the Muslim day of prayer — because of its proximity to the Temple Mount, especially in a period of intensified speculation that more Jews might move in, especially just weeks after a security guard shot and killed a Palestinian.
2. The Photographers’ Positions — When photographers are getting ready for something, but they’re not sure how it’s going to play out, they tend to position themselves close together. Here, the photographers are more spread out at different sides of the action. It seems everyone wanted to get their own unique position.
This makes no sense whatsoever. Photographers crowd together only when something is happening — it’s like a feeding frenzy. Otherwise, they wander around, looking for random shots, trying to see if something is brewing.
3. Reactions to the Hit and Run — When a car’s coming at you, and hits a kid, your first thought is your personal safety and what’s happening to the boy. But when you watch the video, nobody looks scared, nobody screams in horror. The children just continue throwing stones and the photographers keep snapping photos.
"Screaming in horror" when something awful happens — yes, that’s a recipe for hard-edged journalism. I’ve seen much worse up close and don’t remember any horrified screams. You shoot and shoot and shoot and scribble notes is what you do. And honestly, you don’t think too much about personal safety, which is why a lot of us gravitate toward more sedate beats after we become parents.
4. The Dynamics of Staged Stoning Attacks — Adults, perhaps one of the local elders, will tell the kids to throw stones. Another adult who has connections and friends with photographers will tip them off. It’s absolute collusion. Why? It’s either for money, for politics, or both.
I’ve critiqued what HR playfully refers to as the MSM in the past, but this I can tell you from my Jerusalem experience: The slightest whiff of collusion would get major agency photographers sacked and blacklisted in less time than it takes to say "mainstream media."
There’s another, broader question: What does the mere presence of media contribute? I mean, the photographers in good faith will check out a tense corner on a Friday because attacks keep happening Fridays — but is there a vicious circle? Do the locals pick up that they’ve found a way to get attention, and therefore intensify their attacks?
My experience in the region tells me no. I’ve happened on huge, intensive riots — in reportorial and non-reportorial capacities — when the rioters would have had no idea media would be present.
That, at least, is a point for debate. This "analysis," on the other hand, is is not only a crock, it puts journalists in harm’s way for doing a job that is already difficult, dangerous and thankless.
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