CJR Covers Bogus Quote Corrections
The Columbia Journalism Review today has a thorough article by Craig Silverman (of www.regrettheerror.com) about recent corrections at the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star, Boston Globe, Time Magazine, and others, concerning a bogus quote attributed to former Israeli chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon. The corrections, prompted by CAMERA staff, were first described by CAMERA’s Gilead Ini in his article “Demise of a Hoax Quote: CAMERA Prompts Article in Toronto Star, Corrections on Ya’alon Statement.”
Silverman writes:
The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, or CAMERA, a media watchdog founded to combat what was perceived as anti-Israeli press coverage, managed to get each of the aforementioned publications to print corrections. The hope now is that anyone tempted to use the quote will encounter the corrections and be forewarned.
What’s interesting is that each paper had a different process for issuing a correction, and the resulting corrections also varied in their content—reinforcing the reality that we have yet to establish an industry standard. This is a source of frustration to readers, viewers, and listeners demanding satisfaction for a factual error. . . .
Of note is the fact that two of the papers that seemed to do the best job handling the issue employ an ombudsman or a standards editor. This is important to keep in mind, given the ongoing disappearance of the newspaper ombudsman.
“To us, it seemed that the [Chicago] Tribune and Toronto Star corrections were the most thorough, and they also seemed to pursue it the most extensively and really tried to dig for the truth,” Ini said. “I wondered if one of reasons was that both have an editor whose role is to do this kind of thing.”
The Star even assigned a reporter to write a feature about the quote for this past Saturday’s paper. Among other details, the story explained why the quote appeared in the paper back in 2004. (The Star investigated the issue after CAMERA recently got in touch.) This, coupled with its clear and informative correction, should leave no doubt in the minds of readers about the nature of the mistake and the correct information.
Read the Toronto Star story here.
CAMERA yesterday notified Los Angeles Times Readers Representative Jamie Gold that the bogus quote also appeared in a June 17, 2003 Op-Ed by Rashid Khalidi in that paper (“Can Hamas Cut a Deal for Peace?”). We await word on a correction.
More from SNAPSHOTS
USA Today Cartoon Notes Palestinian Calls to Destroy Israel
December 8, 2017
A USA Today cartoon, published on Dec. 8, 2017, detailed the response by many Palestinians to the United States recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. As the cartoon, entitled “Same old Palestinian response,” highlighted, not much [...]
The Hill Omits Turkey’s Support for Hamas
December 5, 2017
Recep Tayyip Erdogan A Hill dispatch about Turkey threatening to cut ties with Israel, omitted key information about Ankara’s support for Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror group committed to the Jewish state’s destruction ("Turkey: Recognizing Jerusalem [...]
Palestinian Textbooks Are ‘Significantly More Radical’ Than Before
December 4, 2017
The hatred taught in Palestinian schools is only increasing, according to an Algemeiner article by correspondent Shiri Moshe (“Report: New Palestinian Curriculum Praises ‘Martyrdom,’ Significantly ‘More Radical’ Than Before,” Dec. 3, 2017). Moshe highlighted a [...]
Fatah Official: Iran is Hindering Palestinian Reconciliation
December 4, 2017
Top Hamas operatives Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh The man tasked with leading efforts to reconcile Fatah and Hamas has accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of working to prevent reconciliation between the two Palestinian [...]
Israeli Peace Offers Go Missing in Politico
December 1, 2017
A Politico report about the Trump administration possibly moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, omitted the numerous instances of Palestinian leadership rejecting a Palestinian state if it meant peacefully co-existing [...]
International Business Times Peddles Fake News About Mossad’s Gal Gadot
November 28, 2017
A screen shot from Lebanon's Al Liwaa, which had erroneously used Gal Gadot's photograph to illustrate a story on alleged Mossad agent Collette Vianfi. Al Liwaa apologized, but The International Business Times lags far behind [...]
Official Palestinian Media: U.S. and Israel Are Responsible for ISIS Attack
November 27, 2017
PA President Mahmoud Abbas An Op-Ed in Al-Hayat al-Jadida, an official Palestinian Authority (PA) daily newspaper, blamed the United States and Israel for a Nov. 24, 2017 terrorist attack in which 305 Muslim worshippers were [...]
The Washington Post’s Hollywood Approach to History
November 27, 2017
A Nov. 22, 2017 Washington Post article, “How the Netflix action series ‘Fauda’ shows the human side to the Israeli conflict,” gave a distorted look at the Arab-Israeli conflict. Tellingly, the headline omits the party—Palestinian [...]
Duke University Press Criticized for Publication of Jasbir Puar’s “Right to Maim”
November 22, 2017
Jasbir Puar is the Rutgers University professor who first coined the term “pinkwashing” to denigrate Israel’s progressive record on LGBTQ rights, and who made the baseless claim at a 2016 lecture at Vassar College that [...]