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tel aviv capital

UKMW prompts Daily Mail correction to claim Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital

Despite the fact that  we’ve prompted corrections on this point continually over the years, UK media outlets continue to make errors regarding Israel’s capital – by claiming, explicitly or implicitly, that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital. We caught two such errors yesterday, one at the Daily Express and the other at the Daily Mail.

As US recognises Jerusalem as capital, UKMW prompts correction to FT claim Tel Aviv is capital

K Media Watch and CAMERA have prompted countless corrections on the same inaccuracy – the claim that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital. However, it’s particularly interesting that on Thursday, the day in which Donald Trump’s impending decision to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was the big story, the Financial Times joined the list of media outlets who’ve made some version of this error.

Why do so many journalists peddle the lie that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel?

The repeated media lie that ‘Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital’ represents a broader UK media pattern of what we call ‘advocacy journalism’: the belief held by many reporters that they have a moral duty (in the spirit of ‘comforting the afflicted and afflicting the powerful’) to advocate on behalf of Palestinians and give credence to their narrative, a duty which transcends their ethical responsibilities as professional journalists to be objective and tell the truth.  

UKMW prompts 2nd correction in 2 weeks to Times of London claim Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital

Though most countries don’t recognize Jerusalem as the capital (for diplomatic reasons pertaining the peace process), Israel declared Jerusalem its capital in 1949 (only ‘West’ Jerusalem until 1967) and the Knesset, Supreme Court, Prime Minister’s Office, Bank of Israel and most government ministries are located in the city. So, it would seem intuitive for journalists and editors – whatever their views regarding the political issues at play – would use the word “Jerusalem” to convey this simple fact to readers.

UK Media Watch prompts Guardian correction to claim Tel Aviv is Israeli capital

This morning, we contacted Guardian editors and argued that the passage falsely suggests that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital. We noted that, in 2012, the Guardian was forced to acknowledge that it is wrong to state that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital, and that their style guide was updated to note that – regardless of the international community’s views on the status of the city – Jerusalem is the seat of government.