“I just want to shut them up once and for all,” an Associated Press staffer wrote to a colleague in 2018, referring to CAMERA.
Recently revealed internal AP correspondence provides a unique window into CAMERA’s often quiet but effective and persistent work, the organization’s impactful interactions with the international press corps and its enduring reverberations well outside journalistic circles.
Much to the news agency’s chagrin, AP’s private communications emerged into the public realm this month as part of a lawsuit brought by terror victims. The lawsuit filed by the National Jewish Advocacy Center charges AP with “funding and substantially supporting a terrorist organization.” This charge was based on AP’s publishing Oct. 7 images by freelance photographer Hassan Eslaiah, who crossed into Israel on that day to photograph the massacre.
Years earlier, in 2018, CAMERA’s Israel office sent AP documentation that Eslaiah worked for a Hamas media outlet and celebrated the murder of Jewish civilians. Then, in 2020, Tamar Sternthal, director of CAMERA’s Israel office, tweeted AP a photo of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar kissing and embracing the “independent and reliable” Hassan Eslaiah. Her seven-year-old communications with AP are at the lynchpin of the court battle.
As Luke Tress reported for Times of Israel (“AP doubted reliability of Hamas-linked reporter years before Oct. 7, documents show”):
In 2018, the pro-Israel media watchdog CAMERA questioned the AP about an article on the shooting of a boy in Gaza. The shooting was attributed to Israel, using Eslaiah’s reporting to corroborate the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry claims and describing Eslaiah as a “local journalist.” CAMERA’s Israel director, Tamar Sternthal, asked the AP staff which outlets Eslaiah worked for, the emails showed.
“I don’t know. I’ll check. I was told he is independent and reliable and not Hamas,” an AP staffer said in response. The AP email addresses in the documents were redacted.
Sternthal responded with information about Eslaiah, including a link to the Electronic Intifada website, saying that Eslaiah was a camera operator with the Hamas-affiliated Quds TV. CAMERA also reviewed Eslaiah’s social media and said that he openly identified with Hamas’s politics, praised terrorism, backed the murder of Israelis and made anti-Jewish statements.“They have sent an entire file on the journalist we quoted, saying he is from Hamas media. Is this stuff accurate? I thought you said he is independent,” one of the AP staffers said in the internal email chain.
“Frankly speaking, many local journalists here don’t pay attention to their language,” they said.
“We shouldn’t describe someone from Al-Quds as being an independent journalist,” another staffer said, adding that the news agency should seek another corroboration for their report. “I just want to shut them up once and for all,” they said of CAMERA.
“I still think we need to be careful. [Redacted] describes this guy as independent and reliable. I’m not sure he is either,” another email said.
CAMERA previously said it had informed the AP about Eslaiah’s Hamas links, but the documents released this week were the first view of the newsroom’s internal response, including the fact that staff doubted Eslaiah’s reliability. . . .
David Litman, a senior analyst at CAMERA, said, “The internal AP emails show that at least one AP official was alarmed enough by CAMERA’s evidence to question Eslaiah’s ‘independence’ and ‘reliability.’”
“That the AP would still turn to Eslaiah five years later without informing its audience of Eslaiah’s terrorist affiliation raises serious concerns about the agency’s judgment and credibility,” Litman said.
When Sternthal began her routine correspondence with AP on Dec. 12, 2018, there was zero indication that the extremely ordinary email would serve as the key piece of evidence in a significant lawsuit against the media giant several years later. Challenging reporting which depicts an unverified Hamas Health Ministry accusation blaming Israel for wrongdoing is mundane activity at CAMERA offices.
When AP replied that “reliable” “local journalist” Eslaiah provided independent verification of Hamas’ account, Sternthal took the natural next step for a CAMERA researcher, checking AP’s response. She investigated Eslaiah’s credentials and collaborated with the then newly-minted CAMERA Arabic department, uncovering his Arabic social media history glorifying terror and identifying with Hamas ideology.
While many of CAMERA’s successes are immediate, with corrections appearing hours or less after CAMERA alerts media outlets to errors, this seven-year-old AP saga highlights our long-term results. The still-unfolding legal case also reveals that much of CAMERA’s impactful activity takes place behind-the-scenes, without great fanfare or publicity.
There is no replacement for air-tight research, dogged documentation, nuanced understanding of journalistic ethics and respectful yet firm communication. These values are the bedrock of CAMERA’s success and have guided the organization for more than four decades.
With our unique institutional experience and knowledge, CAMERA is well equipped for long-term challenges even as we pocket short-term victories on a near-daily basis. (So far this year, CAMERA has achieved some 300 media corrections, or more than 2.5 corrections per day. This list includes some 50 secondary media outlets which corrected after AP corrected its misreporting erasing the deadly crime of a released Palestinian prisoner affiliated with Hamas.)
Day after day, CAMERA’s cadre of seasoned researchers relentlessly carry out behind-the-scenes work and public activity prompting more ethical and accurate media coverage. We haven’t shut up for 43 years and we’re not shutting up now.