It seems that the kidnap of a Fox News journalist and cameraman in Gaza has caused some initial confusion over the origin of one of the men involved.
Sky News, highlighting the dangers of their high-speed news format had a ‘Breaking News’ alert on the story, claiming that the cameraman was Irish.
BreakingNews.ie, which has no connection to BSkyB also carried the news initially, but its report on the issue has since been updated to confirm that the cameraman was actually from New Zealand.
On the topic of the kidnap itself one has to wonder if the journalistic affiliation of the men was a motive for their capture; do these radicals in Palestine know the reputation Fox News has for its pro-Bush, pro-Israeli neo-con news coverage? Or is it just coincidental and these men were only taken because they were Westerners and as such more powerful bargaining chips?
As MediaGuardian points out, the cameraman’s brother believes the captive are in an “even more vulnerable” position due to their employers.
Either way we can only hope that they will be freed without harm, and thankfully the Gaza strip has a more favourable reputation, if you can use the term, in that respect. Had the same kidnapping happened in Iraq the situation would seem far more grim for the two men.