(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The NY Times admits it got something wrong [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-23 ICYMI, The NY Times has published an “Editors’ Note”. Here are some excerpts: On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with claims by Hamas government officials that an Israeli airstrike was the cause and that hundreds of people were dead or injured. The report included a large headline at the top of The Times’s website… Fog of war, rush to judgment, the speed of the news cycle — all things that make covering what’s happening in Gaza difficult. But… ...The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was…. As more information became available, they began walking back their initial coverage and the impressions it created. Now we get this mea culpa: ...Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified. Newsroom leaders continue to examine procedures around the biggest breaking news events — including for the use of the largest headlines in the digital report — to determine what additional safeguards may be warranted. It’s six days since the initial reporting on this story. The Times is acknowledging the way they initially covered the story was wrong. It probably also reflects that Hamas is now saying it cannot find physical evidence to back up its claims — it was vaporized. “The missile has dissolved like salt in the water,” said Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas official, in a phone interview. “It’s vaporized. Nothing is left.” Verifying the claimed body count from the incident is likely to never happen either. The Times Editors’ Note is currently on the digital edition front page, but for how long, and how prominently? The damage caused by the initial report is not likely to be undone — it confirmed what too many in the Arab world and elsewhere want to believe about Israel. (And truth be told, Israel’s own past actions create credibility problems.) Terry Pratchett wasn’t wrong: ‘A lie can run round the world before the truth can get its boots on.’ [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/23/2201081/-The-NY-Times-admits-it-got-something-wrong?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/