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.
Numerous AFP and Reuters photo captions today misidentify a Hamas site hit overnight in an Israeli airstrike as an "under-construction seaport" even as Hamas has acknowledged the site as a base. Update: AFP and Reuters amend their captions.
CAMERA Arabic prompts correction of a Reuters report which in Arabic inaccurately characterized all Arabs who left Israel in 1948 as having been expelled, ignoring that the vast majority fled, often at the urging of their own leaders.
Months after the Hamas-run Ministry of Health removed Laila al-Ghandour from the list of fatalities it blames on Israel, a caption in Reuters' Pictures of the Year 2018 falsely claims the infant died from inhaling tear gas at the Gaza border with Israel. In response to communication from CAMERA, Reuters corrects.
Following a Washington Post correction, Reuters today also corrects the erroneous claim that "Pittsburgh Jewish leaders" penned a letter to President Trump telling him he is unwelcome at memorial events for the Tree of Life massacre victims.
An AFP article today falsely depicts the destruction of a Beersheba home, which this morning suffered a direct hit from a rocket fired from Gaza, as limited to "damage to the garden of the family home." CAMERA prompts correction.
When the Israeli army disputed Hamas' account which blamed Israel for the death of 12-year-old Shady Abdel-Aal, AP rose to the journalistic challenge with accurate coverage. Reuters responsibly corrected when presented with information contradicting Hamas. AFP, in contrast, has yet to correct even as Hamas itself has backtracked.
CAMERA prompts Reuters to correct after an article erroneously referred to Tel Aviv as shorthand for Israel. The news agency also corrected a headline which inaccurately stated that a new Israeli laws "bans some left-wing groups," while the law in question also affects right-wing groups which take action against Israel's army.
Reuters captions early this week about the devastation in southern Israel caused by Palestinian "kite terror" ignored the fires' cause. In response to CAMERA's communication, subsequent captions note "Palestinians have been causing blazes by flying kites and balloons loaded with flammable materials."
CAMERA's Israel office prompts correction of a Reuters feature on Jerusalem which wrongly reported that the Western Wall is the only surviving above ground remain from the Temple Mount.
Yesterday The Los Angeles Times and Reuters both departed from their usual language which acknowledges that among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in 1948, some fled and some were driven out. While Reuters has updated, The Times has yet to address its misleading passage which noted only those who were driven out, ignoring the majority who fled of their own accord, often at their leaders' behest.
