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.
CAMERA prompts correction of a Los Angeles Times headline which falsely claimed "Israel will allow police to fire live ammunition at protesters," as if the cabinet's decision enabled the use of live fire on those waving flags and shouting slogans. CAMERA's Israel office prompts correction today of an AFP photo caption which omitted the essential fact that the pictured Gaza site, bombed during an Israeli airstrike, was a Hamas training camp. In a correction of a headline which falsely states that Israeli troops "storm Jerusalem's Al Aqsa Mosque," Newsweek editors make clear that the police did not enter the mosque. Meanwhile, The New York Times has yet to correct the identical falsehood. CAMERA prompts correction of an AP article which wrongly identified the Holy See with a Palestinian proposal to have the Palestinian and Vatican flags raised at U.N. headquarters. In fact, the Holy See requested that any mention of the Vatican be removed. Following communication from CAMERA, Reuters corrects an article which stated yesterday that 5,442 Palestinians are held in administrative detention. The actual figure is less than 400. CAMERA prompts correction of CNN's article today which claimed that presidential hopeful Scott Walker met with Werner Herzog on the Iran deal. Walker met with Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog, not German film director Werner.
AFP has trouble passing up on a juicy story, however flimsy, accusing Israel of wrongdoing. The latest accuses Israel of flooding Gaza by opening dams. Only, there are no dams that can be opened in southern Israel. The Wall Street Journal is the second media outlet this week to correct an erroneous headline falsely claiming that Israel announced plans to build new settlements. Credit goes to the Detroit News straightforwardly correcting its error. Why hasn't the Wall Street Journal done the same?