Accuracy and accountability are among the most important tenets of journalism. In combination, they mean media organizations are expected to publish or broadcast forthright corrections after sharing inaccurate information. The following corrections are among the many prompted by CAMERA’s communication with reporters and editors.
Multiple secondary media outlets publish an AP story accompanied by a headline that states as fact that "Israeli warplanes strike Syria, kill 4, including children," though the claim in Syria's state media is disputed and unverified. AP's own headline attributes the claim to Syrian state media, qualifying the allegation as just that.
By failing to correct the false claim that Palestinian prisoner Kamal Abu Waer, sick with cancer, died in prison, when in fact he passed away in a hospital, AP plays into baseless Palestinian propaganda that Israel denies Palestinian prisoners adequate medical care.
CAMERA prompts correction of Associated Press photo captions which wrongly reported that Israel banned protests due to coronavirus restrictions. Demonstrators were limited to socially-distanced protests within one kilometer from their homes, but protests were not barred.
UPDATE: Associated Press corrects after captions erroneously reported that a Sderot home was hit by a rocket fired by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. In fact, Israel's Iron Dome intercepted the rockets, and it was shrapnel from the interception which damaged the house.
The Associated Press, which boasts "world-class journalism" and "global expertise," has been embroiled in a number of recent gaffes in its coverage of Israel and the Palestinians. The latest is a series of captions yesterday which misplaced the U.S. Embassy, moved to Jerusalem in 2018 amid great fanfare and controversy, back in Tel Aviv.
CAMERA prompts correction of a series of Associated Press photo captions which absurdly misidentified the Gaza Strip as the "world's largest Muslim nation." With less than 2 million Muslims, the tiny territory is home to a tiny percentage of the world's 1.7 billion Muslims. Even Germany's Muslim population is more than double Gaza's.
In April, with the global battle to contain the spread of Covid-19 in full swing, CAMERA elicited a record 27 corrections in a variety of news outlets: from major media including The New York Times, Associated Press and NBC, to non-Western and alternative news sources.
Ran Saar, CEO of the Maccabi HMO, is the putative source for the widely reported figure that 75,000 residents of the ultra-Orthodox town of Bnei Brak are likely infected with coronavirus. Media outlets ignore that Maccabi officials cited a miscalculation, and said the actual figure is just 10 percent of that. The executive director said Maccabi has "no idea" how many are infected.
CAMERA prompts correction of an Associated Press article about the new Coronavirus crisis which had falsely charged that Israel prevents surgical supplies from reaching the Gaza Strip. The improved copy also notes Hamas mismanagement of the territory's medical infrastructure.
UPDATED: AP corrects captions that Aymen Odeh, an Israeli Arab candidate in Israel's upcoming parliamentary elections, campaigned in "Yabeh, West Bank," when in fact he was campaigning in Taibeh, central Israel.
