The accuracy clause of the Editors’ Code of Practice includes this:
The press, while free to editorialise and campaign, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
A July 20th Guardian article by Bethan McKernan clearly violated that rule in the opening sentence.
However, the “attacks” by Israeli forces on Palestinian medics are merely the claims of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) – one that was denied by the IDF.
Further, PRCS is hardly an objective source – as you can see by viewing their website, which, for instance, routinely refers to slain terrorists as “martyrs” and includes absolutely no corroborating evidence when charging Israeli soldiers with crimes. There are no footnotes or any hyperlinks to sources.
We complained to Guardian editors, asking that the sentence be amended so that it’s clear to readers that what their McKernan is reporting is not an established fact, and our complaint was upheld. The sentence now includes qualifying language before “rise in attacks”.
Finally, we were unable to find the PRCS report in question on their website, rendering it impossible to actually fact-check their claims. So, we contacted the group asking them to forward it to us.
