Al Dura Affair: Did the Raw Footage Sink France 2's Case?

Has the Al Dura trial had its Rosemary Woods missing tapes moment? It certainly sounds that way. PJM’s Nidra Poller has the latest on the ongoing trial in Paris over what has been called “The Mother of All Fauxtography.”

The Mohammed Al-Dura drama reached a climax as France 2’s auteur, who had up till now not appeared in court, took the stand.

Charles Enderlin came to court personally today to defend the images shot by his trusted cameraman Talal Abu Rahma at Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip on September 30, 2000. The cameraman had declared under oath that he filmed 27 minutes of the ordeal of Mohamed al Dura and his father Jamal, pinned down by Israeli gunfire. France 2 turned over to the court a CDRom certified as an authentic copy of the raw footage, of a total duration of 18 minutes. Despite those statements the pertinent al Dura scenes contained in the rushes lasted one short minute. Nothing more.

The remaining footage, 17 minutes, was consistent with what was already known about that day at the Junction: staged battle scenes—out of range of the Israeli position—with instant ambulance evacuations, alternating with images of men and boys attacking the Israeli position with stones, firebombs, and burning tires.

An overflow crowd waited for more than an hour outside the courtroom and dozens were left outside. Those who were lucky enough to get in were treated to a demonstration of Charles Enderlin’s defense strategy. Did Enderlin’s testimony convince the court despite its lack of corroboration by the rushes? He did not convince this correspondent who came away with greater doubts than ever about France 2’s film.

Richard Landes: “Today Charles Enderlin presented in court the “rushes” of Talal abu Rahmah which the Judge had requested from him. And he presented an edited version in which he took out at least three minutes, and several scenes that I distinctly remember seeing. In the United States that’s called tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, and perjury. In France, we’ll find out what it’s called.”

Melanie Phillips: “Enderlin offered only a vague, rambling and unconvincing explanation of why he had only produced 18 minutes of footage rather than the 27 he claimed to have received from his cameraman in Gaza (Enderlin himself was not in Gaza when these events occurred).”

It seems the vast majority of the media used these “Muslim plants” to report on all the stories coming out of the Middle East for years.

The “budding journalism student” behind the Haditha hoax

How Much Does It Cost to Buy Global TV News?

The vast majority of the TV news pictures you see are produced by two TV news companies. Presented here is a case for how a large amount of money has been used to inject a clear bias into the heart of the global TV news gathering system. That this happens is not at question, whether it is by accident or design is harder to tell.

You may not realize it, but if you watch any TV news broadcast on any station anywhere in the world, there is a better than even chance you will view pictures from APTN. BBC, Fox, Sky, CNN and every major broadcaster subscribes to and uses APTN pictures. While the method by which they operate is interesting, it is the extra service this US owned and UK based company offers to Arab states that is really interesting. ...

A Separate Service for Arab States

However, there is another significant part of their business model that affects the rest of the business. While most of the world takes news pictures with minimal interpretation beyond editing, the Arab Gulf States have asked for and receive a different and far more expensive service. These states pay for a complete news report service including full editing and voice overs from known journalists. The news organizations in the Arab countries don’t do anything (beyond verify that they are appropriate for local tastes) before broadcast.

What this means is that while there are around 50 people producing news pictures for the whole world working in Camden at any time, there are a further 50 Arabic speaking staff producing finished stories exclusively for the Arab states of the gulf. This has a tremendous effect on the whole feel of the building as these two teams feed pictures and people back and forth and sit in adjacent work areas. The slant of the stories required by the Gulf States has a definite effect on which footage is used and discarded. This affects both the Gulf newsroom and the main global newsroom.

AP journalists celebrating their Pulitzer Prize for Felony Murder for photos taken by Islamofascist stringers of their Islamofascist buddies murdering Iraqi election officials.

“All over Europe Muslims run as candidates for the socialist and left parties”

And the most bizarre part of that process is that, as Sharia law begins to supersede democracy in swatch after swatch of Europe in the decades ahead, those ‘advocates of tolerance and multi-culturalism’ will be the first ones to experience the medieval cruelty of Islamic justice first-hand...

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