The University of Missouri and its Reynolds Journalism Institute are receiving widespread criticism for a first-place prize it awarded in the Pictures of the Year to the Associated Press, in part for a photo showing the body of 22-year-old, German-Israeli artist Shani Louk.
“RJI thinks a horrifying photo of Shani Louk’s half-clothed, dead body is award-winning work,” wrote Tom Emmer, the majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. “Disgusting.”
“This photo captures Hamas terrorists desecrating the body of Shani Louk, may her soul rest in peace,” wrote Danny Danon, a member of the Knesset. “Yet the AP news agency proudly received an award for it. Their continued pride in their photographers’ ‘work’ and involvement in the atrocities is shameful.”
The Pictures of the Year site also lists the Tokyo-based company Nikon as a “proud” sponsor.
“We are disgusted and shocked that a picture depicting Hamas terrorists with the half-naked corpse of German-Israeli Shani Louk has been awarded Team Picture Story of the Year by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism,” stated the European Jewish Congress.
“It’s not only disrespectful to the family of Louk but to the over 1,200 people who were brutally murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7,” it added. “We demand the Associated Press inform how and why their journalists were documenting the crimes Hamas committed that infamous day, and how they managed to arrive so quickly at the scene of the crime.”
