Reuters Accused of Justifying Gaza Killings as Canadian Photojournalist Resigns

Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink has announced her resignation from Reuters, accusing the news agency of justifying the systematic killing of journalists in Gaza. Zink, who worked as a stringer for Reuters for eight years, made the announcement on her personal Facebook page on Tuesday (26 August). Her post, which includes a photo of her Reuters press card torn in two, has gone viral, with numerous shares across social media.

In her resignation statement, Zink expressed her inability to continue working for an organization that, she alleges, legitimizes Israel’s targeted killings of journalists in Gaza. She wrote, “For the past eight years, I have worked as a stringer for Reuters, covering stories in the Prairie provinces, with my photographs published in outlets like The New York Times, Al Jazeera, and various media across North America, Asia, and Europe. However, at this point, continuing my association with Reuters has become untenable due to their role in justifying and enabling the systematic killing of 245 journalists in Gaza.”

Zink highlighted a specific incident, stating, “On 10 August, when Israel killed Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif along with his entire unit in Gaza City, Reuters published Israel’s baseless claim that Anas was a Hamas operative.” She described this as one of countless false narratives propagated by Israel, which media outlets like Reuters have disseminated without scrutiny, thereby lending credibility to such claims. She further noted that Reuters’ propagation of Israeli narratives did not spare its own journalists from the violence in Gaza.

On Monday (25 August), five more journalists, including Reuters videographer Hossam Al-Masri, were killed in an Israeli strike on Al-Nasser Hospital, which claimed 21 lives. Zink described the attack as a “double-tap” strike, a tactic where Israel bombs a civilian site, such as a school or hospital, and then targets rescuers, medical personnel, and journalists who arrive at the scene.

Quoting journalist Jeremy Scahill from Drop Site News, Zink held Western media accountable for enabling these conditions. Scahill wrote, “Every major outlet—from The New York Times to The Washington Post, AP to Reuters—has become a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitizing war crimes, dehumanizing victims, abandoning their colleagues, and forsaking their commitment to truth and ethical journalism.”

Zink further criticized Reuters for failing to defend Al Jazeera’s Anas Al-Sharif, whose work earned Reuters a Pulitzer Prize. She wrote, “Even when Israeli forces placed Anas on a so-called ‘hit list,’ labeling journalists as Hamas or Islamic Jihad members, Reuters did not stand by him. When an Israeli military spokesperson publicly threatened him in a video, and later when he was hunted and killed, Reuters failed to report his death honestly.”

Zink accused Western media of repeatedly publishing unverified Israeli claims, contributing to an environment where more journalists have been killed in Gaza over two years than in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, and Ukraine combined. She added that this has also led to famine conditions, the destruction of children’s lives, and people being burned alive.

Concluding her statement, Zink wrote, “I have valued my work with Reuters over the past eight years, but carrying this press card now fills me with deep shame and grief. I don’t know what it means to begin honoring the courage and sacrifice of Gaza’s journalists—the bravest and finest in history—but moving forward, I will direct every contribution I make with their legacy in mind.”