Last week, we complained to the Telegraph over an article, attributed to their ‘Foreign Staff’, (“Angelina Jolie visits Gaza border crossing on humanitarian tour”, Jan. 2), which included the claim that an aid worker told the American actress that “thousands” of trucks were waiting at the Rafah crossing:
(In fairness to the Telegraph, their reporters did later note that “Four other crossings into Gaza from Israel are open, allowing… 4,200 trucks with humanitarian aid to enter the enclave” each week.)
However, we looked into the matter, and found a video clearly showing that the aid worker claimed that there were “hundreds” of trucks waiting, not “thousands”. (At 15 seconds in)
Editors upheld our complaint and amended the article to correctly note the aid worker’s comments.
Here’s the revised text:
It’s good to see the correction made and the reporting clarified. Accuracy is especially important on complex topics like aid deliveries in conflict zones.