NYT Publishes ‘Editors’ Note’ About Misleading Coverage of Gaza Hospital Blast
Roughly one week after an explosion near a hospital in Gaza City, The New York Times is admitting it published a misleading report about the incident. On Monday morning, The Times published an “editors’ note” about its…
Roughly one week after an explosion near a hospital in Gaza City, The New York Times is admitting it published a misleading report about the incident.
On Monday morning, The Times published an “editors’ note” about its shoddy reporting that stated, “On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with 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’s website.”
The note explained that Israeli officials denied responsibility for the attack and insisted the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launch from within Gaza, and added, “American and other international officials have said their evidence indicates that the rocket came from Palestinian fighter positions.”
Turning to the paper’s coverage of the incident, the editors stated, “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,” they added.
The note went on to defend The Times’ subsequent coverage by stating stories were updated to explain there were disputes about who was responsible and question the death toll.