Valerie Zink Resigns from Reuters: “I can’t conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief”
Canadian photojournalist Valerie Zink has resigned from Reuters after eight years, condemning the news agency’s role in “justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza.”
“My photos covering stories in the prairie provinces have been published by the New York Times, Al Jazeera, and other media outlets across North America, Asia, Europe, and elsewhere. At this point it’s become impossible for me to maintain a relationship with Reuters given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza. I owe my colleagues in Palestine at least this much, and so much more,” she wrote in a public statement.
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A Resignation Amid Escalating Attacks
Her resignation comes in the immediate aftermath of yet another deadly assault on Gaza’s media workers. On Monday, at least 21 people, including medics and journalists, were killed when Israel struck Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Among the dead were Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, AP freelancer Mariam Abu Daqqa, Ahmed Abu Aziz, and Moaz Abu Taha.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate called it “an open war against free media.”
UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese urged states to “break the blockade, impose an arms embargo, impose sanctions,” and called on journalists worldwide to raise their voices against the massacre of Palestinian colleagues while “documenting the genocide.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded accountability for “continued unlawful attacks on the press.”
France’s President Emmanuel Macron said the strikes were “intolerable,” Germany and Spain demanded an independent investigation, and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was “horrified.”
Regional powers including Türkiye, Qatar, Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia condemned the killings as war crimes. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation described it as an “assault on press freedom.”
With the Nasser Hospital strike, the number of journalists and media workers killed in Gaza since October 2023 rose to at least 273.
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Reuters and the “Conveyor Belt for Propaganda”
Zink singled out Reuters’ reporting on the murder of Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif, killed in Gaza City on August 10.
“When Israel murdered Anas Al-Sharif, together with the entire Al-Jazeera crew… Reuters chose to publish Israel’s entirely baseless claim that Al-Sharif was a Hamas operative – one of countless lies that media outlets like Reuters have dutifully repeated and dignified,” she wrote.
“Reuters’ willingness to perpetuate Israel’s propaganda has not spared their own reporters from Israel’s genocide. Five more journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hossam Al-Masri, were among 20 people killed this morning in another attack on Nasser hospital. It was what’s known as a ‘double tap’ strike, in which Israel bombs a civilian target like a school or hospital; waits for medics, rescue teams, and journalists to arrive; and then strikes again.”
She quoted Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News: “Every major outlet – from the New York Times to the Washington Post, from AP to Reuters – has served as a conveyor belt for Israeli propaganda, sanitizing war crimes and dehumanizing victims, abandoning their colleagues and their alleged commitment to true and ethical reporting.”
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A Pulitzer That Couldn’t Save a Life
Her sharpest words were reserved for Reuters’ silence after Al-Sharif, whose Pulitzer-winning work brought the agency global prestige, was publicly placed on an Israeli “hit list.”
“The fact that Anas Al-Sharif’s work won a Pulitzer Prize for Reuters did not compel them to come to his defence… It did not compel them to report on his death honestly when he was hunted and killed weeks later.”
“Deep Shame and Grief”
Zink concluded: “I have valued the work that I brought to Reuters over the past eight years, but at this point I can’t conceive of wearing this press pass with anything but deep shame and grief. I don’t know what it means to begin to honour the courage and sacrifice of journalists in Gaza – the bravest and best to ever live – but going forward I will direct whatever contributions I have to offer with that front of mind.”
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Remembering Fatma Hassona
Her words echo the loss of Fatma Hassona, one of Gaza’s most courageous young journalists, killed in an Israeli strike while filming for her Cannes-selected documentary. That film, Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, is being released in cinemas this week — a posthumous reminder of her voice and vision. As Hassona herself once said: “We are not just telling stories; we are witnesses to our people’s survival.” Read more about her life and legacy here.
A War on Witnesses
Zink’s resignation also ties into the broader reckoning over the deliberate targeting of the press in Gaza. Our project A War on Witnesses: Remembering Gaza’s Fallen Journalists documents each name and story of the more than 270 journalists killed since October 2023. It is both a memorial and an indictment — a record of the courage of Gaza’s reporters and the silence of institutions that failed to defend them.
Zink’s refusal to continue under Reuters’ banner is part of this larger truth: that journalism itself is under attack. As she wrote, Gaza’s reporters are “the bravest and best to ever live.” Her act of solidarity underscores their sacrifice — and challenges the rest of the world’s media to decide where they stand.
Further reading
Valerie Zink on X and Facebook
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In Memory of Fatma Hassona On 16 April 2025, the world lost a luminous talent and a courageous voice when 25-year-old Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona was killed in an Israeli missile strike on her home in Gaza City.
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