About That ‘Rigorous Neutrality’?: Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate’s Nasser Abu Baker Moonlights For AFP

...Does AFP believe that a journalist who freely dispenses accusations of Israeli Nazi-like crimes and ISIS practices shares the agency’s core value of “accurate, truthful news”? Perhaps AFP officials fear were they to discontinue working with Abu Baker, the agency’s access in Ramallah and the rest of the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank would be jeopardized. After all, once the PJS decided to boycott Israeli journalists, it became very difficult for them to continue working in Palestinian controlled areas, and many simply stopped. Is AFP fearful of the same fate as their Israeli colleagues?

Nasser Abu Baker, wearing a Palestinian
Authority military uniform
(Source Facebook, Jan. 31, 2016)

Tamar Sternthal..
CAMERA Media Analyses..
24 May '16..

"Objectivity is a difficult goal to achieve. The mere unavoidable organisation of facts can influence a reader’s judgement. However, this does not prevent us from pursuing our policy of rigorous neutrality. According to its remit, AFP is independent of the French government and all other economic or political interests.” So state the lofty principles enshrined in “Agence France Presse’s Values.”

How, then, does one explain the fact that Nasser Abu Baker, the chairman of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the leading force for the boycott of Israeli journalists and media, also writes for the influential French news agency?

(Continue to Full Article)

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