UPDATEThe France 24 news channel “puts an end to all collaboration” with an Arabic-speaking journalist working for it in Lebanon and accused of having published anti-Semitic messages on social networks in the past, according to an internal press release which AFP had. awareness.
The channel intends to file a complaint against this journalist, Joëlle Maroun, who is not one of its employees but is employed by an external production company. Three other Arabic-speaking journalists implicated for messages hostile to Israel are given a “call to order”.
These measures aim “to protect the integrity of the work of all the Arabic-speaking editorial staff of France 24, whose editorial content, both on the air and in digital environments, make it a balanced, non-partisan channel”, indicated the latter on its website.
These four journalists have been questioned by the American NGO CAMERA, taken over by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Screenshots in support, CAMERA accused them of having published in the past anti-Semitic or violently anti-Israeli messages on their social networks. Among them are a correspondent in Lebanon, a correspondent in Jerusalem and a correspondent in Geneva.
“Rise up, Hitler”
According to CAMERA, the corresponding journalist in Lebanon proclaimed in old messages: “It is up to every Palestinian to kill a Jew, and the case is closed” or “Get up, Mr. Hitler, get up, there is has people who must be burned”.
Other messages unearthed by the NGO took sides against Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “France Médias Monde’s code of ethics (…) provides that the group’s journalists, when they publish on blogs, forums, on social networks and any space dedicated to the public exchange of information, must ensure ‘to respect professional and ethical rules (…) and not to violate the values of ethics, independence and impartiality of the company’”, underlined France 24 in its press release.