The New York Times has said it was wrong to “heavily” rely on claims by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that Israel was to blame for the Oct. 17 Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, without first verifying those claims.

“The Times’ initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and Social Media Channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The Report Left Readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was,” the N.Y Times said in an editor’s note shared on its Instagram account.

The marquee U.S. newspaper is the latest major media outlet to concede that its early and fast-shifting reporting on the deadly Gaza City hospital blast relied on Palestinian sources, where follow-up coverage and investigations revealed the cause was a misfired rocket aimed at Israel.

The N.Y. Times said its own coverage relied on “claims by Hamas government officials that an Israeli airstrike was the cause and that hundreds of people were dead or injured. The report included a large headline at the top of The Times’ website.”

Israel, after its own investigation, said that a Palestinian rocket, launched by the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, misfired and exploded in mid-air and fell on the hospital grounds, a claim that the U.S. and other countries have since confirmed after their own assessments as they absolved Israel of responsibility for the bomb blast.

The Oct. 17 explosion and carnage at the hospital in Gaza City came just ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel for a diplomatic mission. Early misreporting on the blast had a reverberating impact on both Biden’s visit, as his meeting with Arab leaders was called off, and contributed to a rise in antisemitic attacks in both Europe and the U.S.

Other major U.S. outlets, including CNN, the AP and the Wall Street Journal, have since published independent investigations to correct their reporting on the hospital rocket misfire. The BBC also apologized for initially blaming Israel for the attack.

American intelligence agencies have also reduced the death toll for the hospital explosion from an initial 500 or more fatalities, according to the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry on Oct. 17 — another claim subsequently reported by many U.S. outlets — to a death toll closer to between 100 and 300.

The N.Y. Times’ full Instagram statement is below:

On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with Israel subsequently denied being at fault and blamed an errant rocket launch by the Palestinian faction group Islamic Jihad, which has in turn denied responsibility. American and other international officials have said their evidence indicates that the rocket came from Palestinian fighter positions.

The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.

The Times continued to update its coverage as more information became available, reporting the disputed claims of responsibility and noting that the death toll might be lower than initially reported. Within two hours, the headline and other text at the top of the website reflected the scope of the explosion and the dispute over responsibility.

Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified. Newsroom leaders continue to examine procedures around the biggest breaking news events — including for the use of the largest headlines in the digital report — to determine what additional safeguards may be warranted.

Source From: www.hollywoodreporter.com

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