Two NPR Corrections in Two Days

CAMERA prompted two NPR corrections, airing Sunday and Monday. The first corrected Linda Gradstein’s false attribution of a reference about Palestinian “militants” to the Israeli army when the army had used the word “terrorists.” (The softening of language is a recurring problem at NPR. Earlier corrections on the same topic ran April 26, 2004 and Aug. 13, 2003.) The second corrected Bob Edwards’ wildly inflated figure for Palestinian refugees of the 1948 war.

Error (NPR, “Weekend Edition,” Linda Gradstein, 5/2/04): An Israeli army spokesman said two Palestinians attacked an Israeli vehicle at the entrance to the Gush Katif block of Jewish settlements in Gaza, killing a mother and her children. . . . The army spokesman said the militants fired at the vehicle and used an explosive device.

Correction (5/9/04): In a newscast last Sunday about the killng of an Israeli mother and her children by two Palestinian gunmen, we attributed the description of the gunmen as militants to an Israeli army spokesman. The spokesman’s statement used the word “terrorists,” not “militants.”

Error (NPR, “Morning Edition,” Bob Edwards, 4/15/04): During a meeting at the White House yesterday with Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, the president also explicitly rejected the right of millions of Palestinians who fled during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 to return to what is now Israel.

Correction (5/10/04): In a story last month, we referred to millions of Palestinians who fled Israel during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and are now seeking the right of return. The actual number at the time they fled was about 750,000, though the population has since grown into the millions.

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