By Daryl Lang
© Hatem Moussa/Associated Press/Courtesy Noorderlicht
This is one of the AP photos Stuart Franklin selected for his Noorderlicht exhibit. It shows three children whom Palestinian medical sources said were killed by an Israeli strike, January 5, 2009.
Organizers of the Noorderlicht photo festival have removed a text
essay about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an upcoming photo
exhibit, blaming pressure from the Associated Press, which supplied
some of the pictures.
The text, written by British photojournalist
Stuart
Franklin, describes Palestinians as victims of disproportionate
force by Israel. Franklin curated an exhibition of photojournalism
by Palestinian photographers from the 2008-2009 war in Gaza. The
exhibit is one of six in this year’s
Noorderlicht International
Photofestival, which starts September 5 in The
Netherlands.
An AP spokesperson says the agency agreed to provide photographs
for a nonpolitical photo show but objected to the exhibit text,
considering it unacceptable for the photos to be used in support of
a political position.
“The understanding we had was very clear, and it did not involve...
using AP photos to bolster a highly charged political point of
view,” says AP spokesperson
Paul Colford. Colford says the
festival organizers voluntarily withdrew Franklin’s text after a
series of e-mail conversations with him and AP director of
photography
Santiago Lyon.
Franklin’s essay was to be published in the Noorderlicht festival
catalogue. In its place, Noorderlicht says it will publish short
statements signed by Franklin, festival director
Ton
Broekhuis and the festival board of directors addressing the
removal of the essay.
Broekhuis calls it “a maddening and frustrating conclusion,” and
festival chairman
Koen F. Schuiling says the AP “has shown a
lack of understanding of the essence of freedom of speech.”
Franklin writes that given the options, he preferred to say nothing
and let the pictures talk. “So having been offered, against all the
principles of free speech that I cherish so much, two modes of
capitulation: the replacement of my text with one not written by
me, and the removal of my text, I choose the latter option,” he
says in his statement about his essay.
Franklin, a longtime Magnum photographer and former president of
the agency, has covered conflicts around the world and may be best
known for his 1989 photo of the tank man in Beijing’s Tiananmen
Square.
As guest curator for Noorderlicht, Franklin visited Gaza and spoke
to Palestinian photographers who covered the war in Gaza in late
2008 and early 2009. Israel officially banned international
journalists in Gaza, which increased the importance of coverage by
local photographers.
For the exhibit, titled “Point of No Return,” Franklin selected
images from 11 photographers who shoot for four wire services: the
AP, Agence France Presse, european pressphoto agency and Getty
Images.
Based on his visit to Gaza, Franklin wrote a 700-word essay about
the recent history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Festival
director Broekhuis provided a copy of the final draft of Franklin’s
unpublished essay, but asked
PDN not to publish or quote
directly from it. The AP confirmed it was the same text they
reviewed.)
The essay depicts Palestinians as resilient victims of Israeli
violence and disempowerment. Franklin acknowledges cruelty on both
sides of the conflict, and cites specific instances of violence
against both Israelis and Palestinians.
The essay does not mention the Associated Press or any other media
organizations, nor does it name any photographers. Franklin refers
to the photographers generally, noting that they are mostly married
men who worried about their safety as they covered the
conflict.
In his final paragraph, Franklin likens the Palestinians to other
groups of people who have historically been oppressed—including
Jews—and says the exhibit is not politically biased, but biased on
the side of justice, human rights, and international law.
This is the 16th year for Noorderlicht, which is held in the city
of Groningen. The theme of this year’s festival is “Human
Conditions.” In addition to Franklin, guest curators include
Foto8 editor
Lauren Heinz;
Simon Njami,
founder of Revue Noir director of the Bamako photography festival;
freelance curator
Marc Prüst working with Agence VU'; and
Bas Vroege, a photo instructor and director of exhibition
creator Paradox, along with regular curator
Wim Melis.
Related link
AP
Statement Regarding Noorderlicht Photofestival, September 1
Under Pressure, Photo Festival Drops Text From Gaza Exhibit
Sept 1, 2009
By Daryl Lang
This is one of the AP photos Stuart Franklin selected for his Noorderlicht exhibit. It shows three children whom Palestinian medical sources said were killed by an Israeli strike, January 5, 2009.
Organizers of the Noorderlicht photo festival have removed a text essay about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an upcoming photo exhibit, blaming pressure from the Associated Press, which supplied some of the pictures.
The text, written by British photojournalist
Stuart Franklin, describes Palestinians as victims of disproportionate force by Israel. Franklin curated an exhibition of photojournalism by Palestinian photographers from the 2008-2009 war in Gaza. The exhibit is one of six in this year’s
Noorderlicht International Photofestival, which starts September 5 in The Netherlands.
An AP spokesperson says the agency agreed to provide photographs for a nonpolitical photo show but objected to the exhibit text, considering it unacceptable for the photos to be used in support of a political position.
“The understanding we had was very clear, and it did not involve... using AP photos to bolster a highly charged political point of view,” says AP spokesperson
Paul Colford. Colford says the festival organizers voluntarily withdrew Franklin’s text after a series of e-mail conversations with him and AP director of photography
Santiago Lyon.
Franklin’s essay was to be published in the Noorderlicht festival catalogue. In its place, Noorderlicht says it will publish short statements signed by Franklin, festival director
Ton Broekhuis and the festival board of directors addressing the removal of the essay.
Broekhuis calls it “a maddening and frustrating conclusion,” and festival chairman
Koen F. Schuiling says the AP “has shown a lack of understanding of the essence of freedom of speech.”
Franklin writes that given the options, he preferred to say nothing and let the pictures talk. “So having been offered, against all the principles of free speech that I cherish so much, two modes of capitulation: the replacement of my text with one not written by me, and the removal of my text, I choose the latter option,” he says in his statement about his essay.
Franklin, a longtime Magnum photographer and former president of the agency, has covered conflicts around the world and may be best known for his 1989 photo of the tank man in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
As guest curator for Noorderlicht, Franklin visited Gaza and spoke to Palestinian photographers who covered the war in Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009. Israel officially banned international journalists in Gaza, which increased the importance of coverage by local photographers.
For the exhibit, titled “Point of No Return,” Franklin selected images from 11 photographers who shoot for four wire services: the AP, Agence France Presse, european pressphoto agency and Getty Images.
Based on his visit to Gaza, Franklin wrote a 700-word essay about the recent history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Festival director Broekhuis provided a copy of the final draft of Franklin’s unpublished essay, but asked
PDN not to publish or quote directly from it. The AP confirmed it was the same text they reviewed.)
The essay depicts Palestinians as resilient victims of Israeli violence and disempowerment. Franklin acknowledges cruelty on both sides of the conflict, and cites specific instances of violence against both Israelis and Palestinians.
The essay does not mention the Associated Press or any other media organizations, nor does it name any photographers. Franklin refers to the photographers generally, noting that they are mostly married men who worried about their safety as they covered the conflict.
In his final paragraph, Franklin likens the Palestinians to other groups of people who have historically been oppressed—including Jews—and says the exhibit is not politically biased, but biased on the side of justice, human rights, and international law.
This is the 16th year for Noorderlicht, which is held in the city of Groningen. The theme of this year’s festival is “Human Conditions.” In addition to Franklin, guest curators include
Foto8 editor
Lauren Heinz;
Simon Njami, founder of Revue Noir director of the Bamako photography festival; freelance curator
Marc Prüst working with Agence VU'; and
Bas Vroege, a photo instructor and director of exhibition creator Paradox, along with regular curator
Wim Melis.
Related link
AP Statement Regarding Noorderlicht Photofestival, September 1
