N.Y. Times Says It Was “Incorrect” to Rely on Hamas Claims to Wrongly Blame Israel for Gaza Hospital Blast

The Hollywood Reporter ^ | OCTOBER 23, 2023 | Etan Vlessing

[nickcarraway]

“Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation” of the Oct. 17 Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion in Gaza City — caused by a misfired rocket aimed at Israel — the marquee newspaper said in a statement.

The New York Times has said it was wrong to “heavily” rely on claims by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that Israel was to blame for the Oct. 17 Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion, without first verifying those claims.

“The Times’ 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 N.Y Times said in an editor’s note shared on its Instagram account.

The marquee U.S. newspaper is the latest major media outlet to concede that its early and fast-shifting reporting on the deadly Gaza City hospital blast relied on Palestinian sources, where follow-up coverage and investigations revealed the cause was a misfired rocket aimed at Israel.

The Times said its own coverage relied on “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’ website.”

Israel, after its own investigation, said that a Palestinian rocket, launched by the Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad, misfired and exploded in mid-air and fell on the hospital grounds, a claim that the U.S. and other countries have since confirmed after their own assessments as they absolved Israel of responsibility for the bomb blast.

The Oct. 17 explosion and carnage at the hospital in Gaza City came just ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel for a diplomatic mission. Early misreporting on the blast had a reverberating impact on both Biden’s visit, as his meeting with Arab leaders was called off, and contributed to a rise in antisemitic attacks in both Europe and the U.S.

Other major U.S. outlets, including CNN, The AP and The Wall Street Journal, have since published independent investigations to correct their reporting on the hospital rocket misfire. The BBC also apologized for initially blaming Israel for the attack.

American intelligence agencies have also reduced the death toll for the hospital explosion from an initial 500 or more fatalities, according to the Hamas-run Gazan health ministry on Oct. 17 — another claim subsequently reported by many U.S. outlets — to a death toll closer to between 100 and 300.

The Times’ full Instagram statement is below:

On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with 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.

[TiGuy22]

Ya think?

[moovova]

“We’re not sorry we’re not sorry.”

[Gene Eric]

The Nazi Times

[piytar]

FAKE APOLOGY NOT ACCEPTED, you NYT scumbags.

[SkyDancer]

And yet they go ahead and post pictures of bombed buildings from years ago saying it was that hospital.

[Mark17]

“We’re not sorry we’re not sorry.”

No, of course they are not.

[frank ballenger]

All those cities with chanting protesters calling for the extermination of the Jews of Israel (or an end to allowing them to live anywhere including their own country) and like Tlaib not backing down to facts.

Nutjobs may still try to kill Jews in fury over the lies.

[Jean2]

DUH! No kidding NYT!

[Rowdyone]

How about displaying your admitted bias now as prominently as your original reporting then?

[Zman]

NY.Times equals electronic Goebbels.

[linMcHlp]

"Morning after" photo from XRVision [posted to FR]:

The three cars close to the camera eye, above, are over on the left at the 9:00 o'clock position in the following:

"Morning after" photo [posted to FR]:

My impression is that the HAMAS rocket impact occurred near the center of the area in the second photo, where there is the most-compressed vehicle wreckage (blown up, and then falling down) within the very shallow "crater" that is what I refer to as a "dent" - because of, how the shape is significantly more mild in contrast to the craters caused by the IDF GBU-27 missiles that Israel uses at night.

Also, my impression is, that the Al Ahli al Araby Hospital is a complex around the center of the second photo.

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[blackdog]

But we really enjoyed doing it.....

[Pajamajan]

Now they say this, after the massive damage has already been done. 🙄

[GOPJ]

If the current bunch at the New York Times had been running the paper during World War II they’d be quoting Joseph Goebbels on the war - - and wondering ‘what the big deal’ was before they finally apologized’...

Paper of record? What a joke.

[Eleutheria5]

Hey. It fit our agenda, so we ran with it. Facts? Evidence? Pftthff!

[The_Media_never_lie]

It was incorrect for the NYT to lie to protect the reputation of Stalin in the 30s, also.

[Newtoidaho]

The NY slimes
The old gray whore
The least trusted name in news.

All well earned nicknames.

[packrat35]

They also used a photo of a destroyed hospital that was NOT the actual hospital.

[rx]

They didn’t lack care, as in an ever-so-slight, momentary, signaled virtue deficit.

They lifted the kimono to show their undergarments profoundly lack journalistic integrity.