In a brazen display of suppressing the media, Israeli officials briefly seized camera equipment belonging to The Associated Press on Tuesday. It also shut down an AP video feed showing Gaza. The reason? The government accused the AP of violating a new Israeli media law by providing images to Al Jazeera.
By day’s end, after worldwide pressure, Israel had reversed its decision and returned the equipment to the AP. The feed that shows Gaza in the distance also was back up and running.
The controversy, however, remains.
In a statement, Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications for the AP, said, “While we are pleased with this development, we remain concerned about the Israeli government’s use of the foreign broadcaster law and the ability of independent journalists to operate freely in Israel.”
The origins of all of this go back two weeks when Israel shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in the country and confiscated some equipment. At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers. It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.”
So then came Tuesday when Israel took action against the AP.
The New York Times’ Adam Rasgon wrote, “The seizure was an escalation in Israel’s efforts to punish Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab broadcaster that the Israeli government voted to shut down two weeks ago. It raised questions about how far Israeli authorities would go to cut off the Qatari-funded channel, which has provided extensive coverage of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.”
Right after the AP’s equipment was taken, Easton said in a statement, “The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment. The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world.”
Before announcing the equipment would be returned, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said, “The camera that was confiscated illegally broadcasts on the Aljazeera channel live the northern Gaza Strip, including the activities of the IDF forces and endangers our fighters. It should be noted that a warning was given to the AP agency already last week that according to the law and the government’s decision they are prohibited from providing broadcasts to Al Jazeera, however they decided to continue broadcasting on the channel causing a real harm to the security of the state.”
But the Israeli government immediately got pushback from around the world, including from U.S. officials. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN that the White House and the State Department immediately reached out to Israel to express their “serious concern.” Watson added, “The free press is an essential pillar of democracy and members of the media, including AP, do vital work that must be respected.”
In a statement, the Foreign Press Association said it was “alarmed” by Israel’s confiscation of the AP equipment and said it was “the latest in a series of chilling steps by the Israel government to stifle the media.” They called the move “outrageous,” and added, “Israel’s move today is a slippery slope. Israel could block other international news agencies from providing live footage of Gaza. It also could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds.”
And Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called it “an act of madness” and added, “This is not Al Jazeera, this is an American media outlet that has won (dozens of) Pulitzer Prizes. This government behaves as if it has decided to make sure at any cost that Israel will be outcast all over the world. They went mad.”
Then late Tuesday in Israel, Karhi said, “I have now ordered to cancel the action and return the equipment to the AP.”
The AP’s Josef Federman and Danica Kirka wrote, “Karhi said the defense ministry will undertake a review of news outlets’ positioning of live video of Gaza. Officials hadn’t previously told AP the positioning of its live camera was an issue. Instead, they repeatedly noted that the images appeared in real-time on Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera is one of thousands of AP customers, and it receives live video from AP and other news organizations.”
Associated Press media reporter David Bauder wrote, “Yet the camera, located in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, was not the only one AP operated in Israel or Gaza — the company would not say how many it uses regularly — nor is AP the only news organization to do so. Agence France-Presse confirmed it has frequently used such cameras in Israel and also sells its images to Al Jazeera.”
Bauder then added, “News organizations expressed worry about the potential ambiguity in how Israel’s law could be enforced. What, they asked, prevents Israel from shutting down the news cooperative’s operations in the country altogether?”
As Israel’s Foreign Press Association said in a statement, “It also could allow Israel to block media coverage of virtually any news event on vague security grounds.”
Sara Sidner update
CNN’s Sara Sidner said on air Tuesday that she will be out for the next few weeks after she undergoes a double mastectomy. She had announced earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sidner told viewers of “CNN News Central,” “What I have learned so far in my cancer journey is treating it is more of a marathon than a sprint. After five months of chemo, I have not yet become cancer-free. The next phase is a double mastectomy.”
Sidner said the surgery is scheduled for this morning.
‘60 Minutes’ is unstoppable
(Courtesy: CBS News)
Call it the greatest winning streak in TV news.
CBS’s “60 Minutes,” the gold standard of TV news, just wrapped up another stellar season with another impressive episode, including Norah O’Donnell scoring a rare interview with Pope Francis. And that now makes it 50 consecutive years of being the top-rated TV news program, according to Nielsen. Just to do the math for you, that streak goes back to the 1974-75 television season.
The show averaged 8.35 million viewers and was the top-rated nonsports program 15 times in the 2023-24 season.
Want more? Of the show’s 28 episodes, 27 finished in the top 10 for the week, and the top five 18 times.
Bill Owens, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” told Axios’ Sara Fischer, “We have protected our legacy by being consistent over all these decades.”
Fischer noted, “The transition to streaming and digital news has been a ratings killer for many shows. But the CBS News staple remains a juggernaut (9 million viewers on one recent Sunday).”
3 … 2 … 1 …
Based on all the reporting and rumors from the past couple of weeks, it seems like a foregone conclusion that the NBA’s television rights are going to end up with ESPN/ABC, Amazon Prime and NBC. That would leave Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) out of the loop after televising the NBA since 1989.
The framework of the ESPN/ABC and Amazon Prime deals, reportedly, are done. And podcaster Bill Simmons, who is plugged into the league, said that NBC getting the rights is a done deal, too. That would leave TNT shut out. Even TNT “Inside the NBA” analyst Charles Barkley has openly expressed concern that TNT will lose the rights and recently joked that he’s going to be on LinkedIn looking for work.
However, Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy said that we should not count out Warner Bros. Discovery just yet. He wrote, “ … sources with direct knowledge of the talks tell me WBD is still very much alive at the negotiating table to try to retain its NBA rights. TNT won’t get the league’s ‘A ’package; that’s likely going to ESPN, along with the marquee rights to the NBA Finals. But WBD’s still in play for the ‘B’ package, which comes with a conference final every other year, or a ‘C’ package, which includes the new midseason tournament, play-in games, and early-round playoff series. With the NBA already reaching a ‘framework’ for deals with ESPN and Amazon, according to The Athletic, WBD is still the underdog. But it’s working to pull off a last-second buzzer beater that would enable TNT to save its 40-year relationship with the NBA. The only sure winner is the NBA, which is poised to nearly triple the value of its long-term rights cycle to the $75 billion range from $25 billion.”
It still feels as if that last-second buzzer beater is a half-court prayer, but apparently, there’s still a chance.
Media tidbits
- If you’re a fan of professional tennis, here’s welcome news: The Athletic announced it is expanding its tennis coverage. The vertical will be led by James Hansen, who is the senior editor for tennis. Longtime Times sportswriter Matthew Futterman, who moved over to The Athletic last year, will be one of the featured tennis writers, along with Charlie Eccleshare, who moves over to tennis after covering English soccer. Here’s a Q&A that Futterman and Eccleshare did with readers. And here’s a piece from Hansen talking about the expanded coverage.
- CNN’s Oliver Darcy with “Vox launches subscription program as news publishers race to diversify revenue streams.”
- ESPN+ has a new three-part series about the whole embrace-debate programming of sports talk shows. The series’ executive producer is, perhaps, the biggest star of such programming — ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. The series is called “Up For Debate: The Evolution of Sports Media.” Here’s the trailer.
- The Verge’s Jacob Kastrenakes with “Scarlett Johansson told OpenAI not to use her voice — and she’s not happy they might have anyway.”
- The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Glickman with “Trump Media Posts Steep Loss on Little Revenue.”
- Axios’ Sara Fischer with “Senators to debut a measure providing postal service relief for newspapers.”
- Sarah Jane Weaver has been named editor of the Deseret News in Utah. She becomes the first female editor of the Deseret News since its founding in June 1850. Here’s more from the Deseret News.
Hot type
- For ProPublica (co-published with The New Yorker), Sharon Lerner (with photos from Haruka Sakaguchi) with “Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe.”
- A new season of Slate’s excellent podcast, “Slow Burn,” launches today. This one is titled “Gays Against Briggs” and looks back at the first-ever statewide vote on gay rights. The new season is hosted by Christina Cauterucci, a Slate writer and host of Slate’s LGBTQ podcast “Outward.”
More resources for journalists
- Are you ready for healthcare’s influence on the election?
- Investigative mind? We bet you Will Work for Impact.
- Reporting on the Rise of AI: A RAND-Poynter Masterclass
- Manage big responsibilities without direct reports? Try Lead With Influence.
Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.
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