A report questioning why six photojournalists reporting for the Reuters and the Associated Press wire services appeared at the ready to document the Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7 has received a response from another prominent publication that pays for one of the freelancers’ work.
The New York Times released a statement on Thursday, saying that claims the newspaper “had advance knowledge of the Hamas attacks or accompanied Hamas terrorists during the attacks is untrue and outrageous.”
The Times further said that HonestReporting, the media watchdog that performed the research and analysis, had acted recklessly, “putting our journalists on the ground in Israel and Gaza at risk.”
The paper further said that “HonestReporting has made vague allegations about several freelance photojournalists working in Gaza, including Yousef Masoud,” noting that the contributor “was not working for the Times on the day of the attack.”
HonestReporting disputes this characterization of its work. In an update of its original report, the group wrote: “The Times denied it had prior knowledge of the Hamas attacks, an accusation HonestReporting did not make.”
