An Agence France Presse photo caption whitewashes an Islamic Jihad terrorist killed while he was reportedly preparing to fire rockets at Israel, saying only that Mohammed Hamuda was a Palestinian killed in an Israeli air strike.
Reuters captions about burning fields in southern Lebanon clearly identify the blaze's cause: an Israeli shell. In contrast, Reuters captions about damage in Israel fail to identify the cause: the Hezbollah anti-tank missile attack which prompted the Israeli response. Reuters' double standard is consistent with incomplete captions about Palestinian arson attacks in southern Israel.
CAMERA prompts correction of numerous Deutsche Presse-Agentur photo captions today which erroneously referred to hundreds of rocket attacks on Israel as "alleged," as if it wasn't yet certain that Gaza terrorists have carried out hundreds of these attacks since yesterday morning.
A photo caption misidentifies a billboard showing the Prime Minister alongside far-right politicians as "a campaign ad for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing allies." In fact, it's an ad for the competing Blue and White party, keen to paint Netanyahu as a close ally of extremists.
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.
"What does it show?" Reuters Handbook of Journalism says captions must answer this question. Why then have Reuters captions repeatedly whitewashed Palestinian attacks against Israelis as "incidents," not even stating that an attack took place?
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.
By repeating up the language of Turkey's state-run media organization, the New York Times also repeated three errors about a clash along Gaza's border with Israel.
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.
AP photo captions mislead with critical omissions: Israel identified a reported cultural center bombed in Gaza as a Hamas facility. Also, Prime Minister Netanyahu criticized protesters not only for waving Palestinian flags but also for chanting, "With blood and fire, we will redeem Palestine."
