The Guardian’s reporting on the killing of Al Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh has been predictably one-sided. They’ve consistently highlighted voices claiming that Israeli soldiers shot Abu Akleh, whilst significantly downplaying evidence suggesting she may have been killed by Palestinian gunmen, and failing to note the significance of the PA’s refusal to hand over the bullet that killed her – the key piece of evidence in the case.
However, until a May 27th article by their diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour (“Shireen Abu Aqleh: killing of reporter referred to international criminal court”), Guardian coverage – presumably due to the fact that editors are cognizant of the dearth of definitive evidence pointing to Israeli guilt – avoided stating, as fact, that Israeli forces shot Abu Akleh.
Wintour’s piece included the following, in his own voice:
We complained to Guardian editors, reminding them that the Accuracy clause of the Editors’ Code of Practice is clear about the importance of distinguishing between fact and opinion – and especially given the piece was a straight news article, his claim that Abu Akleh was “shot dead by Israeli forces” is clearly in violation of the code.
Our complaint was upheld, and the sentence revised.
They also added an editor’s note at the bottom of the article, noting the correction: