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.
"Times editors should have taken more care."
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 23, 2023
Is this @nytimes editors' note a lame excuse for an "apology" over its abysmal coverage of the Gaza hospital blast?
Not good enough–the damage has already been done.https://t.co/LSX10O2qOz pic.twitter.com/7z4AdpQEIw
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.
Finally, the note ended with perhaps the understatement of the year, “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.”
On Tuesday, The Times was one of the major news outlets that helped disseminate the false claim Israel bombed the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City.
It ran a story with a headline plastered at the top of its site that read, “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinians Say.”
However, the initial reports did not explain clearly enough the source of the information was Hamas — which carried out the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel — and implied there was a legitimate and reputable government source for the claims.
It's like the "Homer into the Bushes" meme just with NYT pic.twitter.com/w2lOIwUgTc
— American Prometheus 🟦 (@daniopp) October 17, 2023
The editors’ note on Monday did point out the claim from “Hamas government officials,” but it is a little late for that distinction.
By Wednesday, Israel had released evidence showing the explosion was due to a failed rocket launch from Gaza. Additionally, U.S. defense officials said there is “high confidence” intelligence that Islamic Jihad and not Israel was responsible for the blast.
Images from the site of the explosion the next morning also poured doubts on the extent of the damage.
And on Monday, The Times had a story on its site pointing out Hamas has still not produced evidence to support its allegation — which is the first thing reporters should have looked for before writing a headline giving credence to the claim Israel was behind the explosion.
There was a way to cover the explosion without making it seem like the claim from Hamas was correct. The headline could have simply stated there was an explosion at a hospital and an investigation was underway, and then in the story note the different claims about who was responsible.
Instead, The Times and other outlets gave credence to the claims of terrorists and are now playing clean-up by publishing stories disputing Hamas’ narrative. But it is now too late. For many people, those first stories, push notifications, and emails about Israel allegedly bombing a hospital will be the true story.
A lot of people may not see these articles correcting the record. And just to prove the point, The Times did not put their editors’ note on the top of the site Monday morning. Unless you see it in the paper or in a tweet, you may not even know it exists.
It’s good The Times is admitting they messed up. But why did it take so long?
With a mistake this big, this dangerous in terms of the impact it can have on the world, and the time between the initial reporting and this note, they should give the admission of error the same treatment they gave the first false reports: Put it on the top of their website and send it out in push notifications and emails.