Reuters Responds To Accusation About Having 'Prior Knowledge About The October 7th Attack'
Reuters news agency has released a statement on their X (formerly twitter) page as response to ‘HonestReporting’s alleged accusation that the agency had prior information on October 7 surprise attack by Hamas. ‘HonestReporting’ is a page on twitter that claims about “exposing anti-Israel media bias”.
The accusation was in the form a question on what were the Gaza freelance photographers doing inside Israel on October 7 and asked whether it was “coincidence or were they part of the plan?”. The alleged accusation was also directed at Associated Press, CNN, and New York Times, apart from Reuters.
In the statement, Reuters clarified that the agency is aware of the “report by HonestReporting and the accusation made…”. The news agency categorically denied that “it had prior knowledge about the attack or that we embedded journalists with Hamas on October 7th”.
Scoop: What were @AP, @Reuters, @CNN & @nytimes Gaza freelance photographers doing inside Israel on October 7? Coincidence or were they part of the plan? https://t.co/KcdXMd4DYF
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 8, 2023
The statement clarified that Reuters “did not have any prior relationship” with two freelance photographers from Gaza who contributed with Reuters on sharing the pictures of what happened on October 7th.
Statement from Reuters: pic.twitter.com/fdQ56NtqU9
— Reuters Press Team (@ReutersPR) November 9, 2023
The news agency also explains the time span of the attack on southern Israel by Hamas resistance group and the time at which Reuters had gained access to pictures. The statement made it clear that no Reuters staffs were “on the ground at the locations referred to in the HonestReporting article”.
The statement ended with Reuters reminding that the news agency is committed “in keeping with the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles”.
