Reuters' shame: Storied news organization equates hostages with terrorists

Reuters, the storied, veteran news organization, has joined with a long list of news organizations effectively equating the release of hostages held by Hamas with Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons.

The headline for the article describing the hostage exchange two days ago said "Hamas frees three hostages, Israel begins releasing Palestinians," without even calling them "militants," let alone terrorists being held in Israeli jails for various security-related crimes, including murder and attempted murder.

Reuters is far from the only mainstream outlet to do this.

During the exchange two days ago, the Israeli Government Press Office or GPO released an exceptional complaint today, accusing media in general of making moral equations between the deliberate starvation of Israeli hostages and the reportedly weakened state of some of the Palestinian terrorists.

In the statement, the GPO used a headline published by CNN as an example, as it said: "Three freed Israeli hostages appear in poor health. Many Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel have also seemed emaciated upon release."

In its statement, the GPO said that: "The GPO condemns any attempt by the media to establish a comparison and/or symmetry between the hostages, who were abducted from their homes in a brutal terrorist attack and held in starvation for a long period, and convicted terrorists that were serving their sentences in Israeli prisons. A narrative comparing hostages and prisoners runs contrary to every ethical standard of journalism."

The BBC similarly put out a headline on the emaciated and poor health condition of hostage Eli Sharabi, attributing it to the families' say-so rather than clear pictorial evidence: "Freed Israeli hostage looks gaunt, British family says."

Israel advocates have frequently complained of hos news organizations, intentionally or not, conflate Israeli hostages and Palestinian terrorists, as though both sides are holding civilian hostages illegitimately. Little change has come as a result of their protests.