Earlier in the week, we posted about the Independent’s rush to judgment is pronouncing Israeli settlers guilty in a rock throwing attack that killed a Palestinian woman in the West Bank, despite the fact that police were still investigating the case and their weren’t any suspects.
Here’s the sentence in question, in an article published on Oct. 14:
A Palestinian woman has been killed after being struck in the head by a stone thrown by Israeli settlers.
We noted that other media outlets were far more careful, as the accusations against unidentified ‘settlers’ were based on testimony by the victim’s relatives who didn’t actually see the perpetrators.
We complained to Indy editors both about the opening sentence, and about the headline, which similarly stated, as if it were a fact, that settlers killed the woman. Whilst they only agreed to add ‘scare quotes’ around the words (‘after Israeli settlers pelt her car with stones’) in the headline to note that it was only an accusation, they also added the key word “allegedly” in the opening sentence – a modest change which at least makes the article more accurate.
Here’s the new sentence:
A Palestinian woman has been killed after being struck in the head by a stone allegedly thrown by Israeli settlers.
And, on Oct. 16th, we tweeted the Telegraph, and complained to editors of an omission in the following sentence in an article on the possibility that Australia may move its embassy to Jerusalem.
.@Telegraph You neglected to note that #Guatemala also moved their embassy to #Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/2tjTkmN5gS
— CAMERA UK (formerly UK Media Watch and BBC Watch) (@CAMERAorgUK) October 16, 2018
We noted that Guatemala also moved their embassy to Jerusalem, and editors promptly revised the sentence in acknowledgment of this fact.
Here’s the new sentence:
The USA and Guatemala are the only countries with embassies in Jerusalem, but Mr Netanyahu has attempted to persuade others to follow suit.
