CAMERA staff prompted a correction at National Public Radio yesterday, following an earlier “All Things Considered” report which falsely stated that Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel only after Israel hit Lebanon with airstrikes last summer. The error and correction follow:
Error (NPR, “All Things Considered,” Michelle Norris, 8/14/07): The conflict erupted when Hezbollah launched a cross-border raid and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israeli warplanes unleashed waves of airstrikes against Lebanon and sent troops and tanks across the border. Hezbollah then retaliated by firing Katyusha rockets at Israeli cities and towns.
Correction (8/23/07): In a recent story we stated that last year’s conflict between Israel and Hezbollah erupted when Hezbollah launched a cross-border raid and captured two Israeli soldiers. We then said that Israel unleashed air strikes and sent troops and tanks across the border. And Hezbollah retaliated by firing Katyusha rockets into Israel. In fact, Hezbollah launched an initial round of Katyushas at the time of its cross-border raid. The katyusha attacks escalated and expanded to most parts of northern Israel after the Israeli air strikes began.
NPR is to be commended for promptly broadcasting this correction. (The correction can be heard here.) It should also be noted that the Los Angeles Times has twice refused to correct the very same error, which appeared in an Op-Ed by Saree Makdisi and also in a sidebar to a news article. We call on the Times to follow NPR’s lead and to correct the record, making clear that Hezbollah rocket attacks against Israel started at the very beginning of the conflict, during the group’s cross-border raid into Israel.