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Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1176152838885&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Foreign Press Shuns Gaza After Reporter's Kidnapping
[Jerusalem Post] Anshel Pfeffer - The foreign press corps has abandoned Gaza in the five weeks since the kidnapping of BBC reporter Alan Johnston, leading to a significant decrease in coverage. A statement on Thursday by the Foreign Press Association said that "effectively, Gaza has become a 'no-go' zone for our members." Simon McGregor-Wood, bureau chief for ABC and FPA chairman, acknowledged that "foreign press coverage from Gaza is almost gone." At Tuesday's FPA annual meeting, some members proposed threatening the PA with a boycott of all coverage of its affairs until it ensured journalists' safety. Most of the nongovernmental aid organizations have also dramatically reduced the number of their foreign personnel working in Gaza. In the absence of foreign reporters, news from Gaza is coming almost exclusively from Palestinian stringers. "The people who use the stringers have to sift their material very carefully," says Jay Bushinsky, a veteran FPA member. "They have a mission and they don't give anything detrimental to their leadership." In its meeting on Tuesday, the FPA also condemned the decision by Britain's National Union of Journalists to boycott Israeli goods.