Prominent publication The New York Times is currently being dragged through the mud after making a huge error in its reporting on the Gaza hospital bombing incident back on October 17. The newspaper was quick to publish a headline which suggested that that Israel had involvement in the incident: “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.”
This narrative was quickly challenged by both U.S. and Israeli intelligence, leading to backlash and public humiliation for the publication.
The New York Times issued this statement, where they admitted to their mistakes:
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.
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.
The latest evidence suggests that the missile launch originated from Palestinian fighter positions within Gaza rather than from Israeli military positions. Audio recordings indicated that Hamas fighters seemed to acknowledge Islamic Jihad as the perpetrator of the attack, putting The New York Times’ accuracy into question and prompting them to issue a statement recognizing their failures one week after the incident occurred.
Subsequently, officials reported that U.S. officials and Israel proposed that an Islamic terrorist group was responsible for the deadly blast.
The New York Times was quick to blame Israel.https://t.co/oUD33RPD0x
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) October 18, 2023
In addition to criticism over their initial headline about Israel’s involvement, The New York Times also came under fire for their portrayal of Hamas as “terrorists” which they later amended to “gunmen” before reverting back to their original descriptor following backlash from readers.
