Al Jazeera Strongly Criticized for Tweet About Israeli Victims
A Palestinian man went on a stabbing spree in Jerusalem last night, killing two men and injuring a mother and her son. Now, if you click the link above, you’ll notice it directs you to an Al Jazeera report with a fairly standard headline. But that’s not the original headline they went with; this is:
Palestinian shot dead after fatal stabbing in Jerusalem; 2 Israeli victims also killed http://t.co/mRHMHvi7s0 pic.twitter.com/l3WICTzCNI
— AJE News (@AJENews) October 3, 2015
As you can probably imagine from the eyebrow-raising wording of that tweet, people were upset:
@AJENews You could not warp the truth more than you have in that headline. You have long since ceased to be journalists.
— An fhirinne (@hazyshark) October 3, 2015
@AJENews wow… Propaganda much?
— Steve (@Traveling_steve) October 3, 2015
@AJENews @MajaMischke Incredible that heading of AJE. Seriously disgusting.
— Frank Berkemeier (@FrankBerkemeier) October 3, 2015
How was he shot dead after being fatally stabbed? Oh, HE had the knife? MT @AJENews Palestinian shot dead after fatal stabbing in Jerusalem
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) October 4, 2015
@AJENews is this really the right headline when a terrorist kills two and is shot while trying to kill others?
— David Karger (@karger) October 4, 2015
19 amateur pilots die in deadly plane crash at World Trade Center; 2852 victims also killed pic.twitter.com/pqA0rPAliG #howaljazeerawouldreport
— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) October 4, 2015
Well, Al Jazeera ended up walking that tweet back, though not specifically apologizing, in the following editor’s note:
On Saturday, we posted a tweet that has been widely criticised.
It contained a link to a news story on our site about an incident in Jerusalem in which two Israeli men were stabbed to death by a Palestinian man who was later shot dead by Israeli police.
This is the wording of the tweet:
“Palestinian shot dead after fatal stabbing in Jerusalem; 2 Israeli victims also killed.”
Many people in our audience have pointed out that the tweet appears to minimise the killings of the Israeli victims and leaves out the context that the Palestinian man was their attacker.
This criticism is valid and we regret the wording of a tweet written under the pressure of breaking news. The story on the site was briefly headlined with similar wording, which we amended in an update.
Al Jazeera depends on accurate reporting and strives to promptly correct all errors of fact and misjudgements in tone.
We are committed to accountability and transparency and are grateful for this feedback.
We encourage our audience and others to identify and report our mistakes.
[image via screengrab]
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