For the second time in less than four weeks, CAMERA prompts improvement of an Associated Press headline which stated as fact an unverified Hamas-supplied claim about fatalities in the Gaza Strip. The updated headline, which includes attribution signaling that the information is not confirmed, appears in more than 90 media outlets around the world.
Today’s headline (screenshot at left) originally stated without qualification: “Israel kills 34 people in Gaza ahead of UN meeting, where countries will recognize Palestinian state.”
Despite the fact that the figure originates with Hamas and has not been substantiated, the headline includes neither attribution nor any sort of qualification.
Following communication from CAMERA’s Israel office, editors commendably amended the headline to include attribution: “Israel kills 34 people in Gaza, say health officials, ahead of UN meeting.” (Emphasis added.)
Thanks to CAMERA’s fast-acting work within the same news cycle in which the original article appeared, the improved headline is carried in a slew of secondary news outlets. The corrected headline appears in dozens of media outlets which rely on AP coverage including The Canadian Press, Yahoo, NBC-affiliated KPRC-TV (Houston), ABC-affiliated KSAT (San Antonio), Washington Post, Toronto Star, Winnipeg Free Press, Politico, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, North Shore News (Vancouver), WTOP-FM (Washington, D.C.), NBC-affiliated KOB 4 (Albuquerque), Rocky Mountain Outlook, ABC-affiliated KSTP (Twin Cities), City News (Vancouver), Newsday, San Francisco Chronicle, Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia), News10 ABC (Albany), Richmond News, News10NBC (WHEC, Rochester), Santa Maria Times, News-Gazette (Illinois), Minnesota Star Tribune, Your Central Valley (Fresno), ABC’s WYTV (Youngtown, OH), Fox59 (WXIN Indianapolis), CityNews (Ottawa and Kitchener, ONT), Spectrum News 1 (Asheville, NC), WRAL News (N.C.), Coast Reporter (British Columbia), Powell River Creek (British Columbia), Delta Optimist (British Columbia), Squamish Chief (British Columbia), Atlanta Journal Constitution, Vancouver Is Awesome, Pique News Magazine (British Columbia) and countless more.
The accompanying article nevertheless still fails to acknowledge that the “health officials” in question represent a Ministry of Health run by Hamas, a designated terror organization which considers civilian fatalities on its own side as a strategic asset and which has notoriously supplied unreliable information on fatalities.