Why some Palestinian journalists struggle with when to put down the camera
Palestinian journalists covering the current events in Jerusalem and the West Bank are torn between the professionalism their jobs require and their sense of nationalism, often conveying a subjective image of the news.
While filming the events taking place at the northern entrance to the city of Bethlehem, photojournalist Jad Gado put his camera aside to help an elderly lady who was trying to cross the road before Israeli soldiers threw tear gas bombs at demonstrators there. The woman was unable to breathe and took cover behind a tree on the side of the road; that is when Gado saw her and ran toward her.
Gado, 32, a cameraman for the Palestinian News Network, took off the mask he was wearing to protect himself from the tear gas and gave it to the woman. He then asked the paramedics to come and take her somewhere safe. “The lady was in a spot where it was hard for paramedics to see her. I noticed she was suffocating, so I headed her way to help her,” Gado told Al-Monitor.
Gado was the only bystander who could reach the woman, and he believed what he did was his duty as a human being, as it did not interfere with his job as a journalist. “The lady was simply passing by, and she was not participating in the confrontations. She wasn't carrying any weapon or stones,” he said.
However, Gado was criticized by some journalists under the pretext that his actions did not show professionalism as a journalist in the field.
