LA Times Replaces Solid AP Headline With Biased Headline
“Hamas vows revenge for key member killed in Malaysia,” was the perfectly accurate and straightforward Associated Press headline (reproduced here in The Washington Post) about the killing Saturday of key Hamas member Fadi Batsh in Malaysia.
But The Los Angeles Times, which published the AP story in the April 22 print edition on page 4, replaced AP’s solid headline with the following biased and misleading headline: “Hamas says Israel killed scholar; Militant group vows revenge over what it calls an assassination in Malaysian capital.”
Readers who glance only headlines, as so many so often do, would reasonably conclude that the man killed was a quiet intellectual, immersed, perhaps, in the intricacies of Islam. The Times’ skewed headline does not even specify that the “scholar” was a Hamas member, never mind an important Hamas member.
The accompanying article begins:
The Gaza Strip’s ruling Hamas militant group said Saturday that a man who was gunned down in Malaysia was an important member of the organization, accusing Israel of being behind the brazen killing.
Hamas said Palestinian engineer Fabi Batsch was a “loyal” member and a “scientist of Palestine’s youth scholars.” It gave no further details on his scientific accomplishments but said he had made “important contributions” and participated in international forums in the field of energy.
Nine paragraphs later, the most intrepid readers learn: “However, Israeli media reported that he was also deeply involved in the Hamas drone development program.”
Thus, while the original AP headline commendably stuck to the important facts about which all agree — that Fadi Batsh was a key member of Hamas — The Los Angeles Times headline whitewashes the star engineer of the designated terror organization as no more than a “scholar,” not even one linked to the group.
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