Oct. 24: Gaza hospital confusion
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Top Story of the week
Major news organizations like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times were publicly criticized following coverage of an Oct. 17 blast at a Gaza hospital complex that killed at least 100 people and possibly hundreds more. Initial reports and news alerts conveyed statements from Palestinian officials who said the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike. But by the next day both newspapers updated their reporting with statements from U.S. and Israeli government officials who claimed to have evidence that Israel was not responsible for the explosion.
A Times spokesman said that during breaking news events “we report what we know as we learn it” and that as facts emerged, they continued reporting. This process was slowed by the fact that the site of the blast wasn’t accessible to journalists and by the amount of time it took Israeli officials to release their findings following the quick statement from the Palestinians. However, given the sensitive nature of the news, a Times editor’s note said “editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified.”
RumorGuard post of the week
NLP created RumorGuard to fact-check viral rumors and help you build news literacy skills. Sign up to push back against misinformation HERE.
? NO: This video does not show Qatar’s emir threatening to cut off a significant portion of the world’s natural gas supply due to the Israel-Hamas war. YES: The video is from 2017 and shows the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, speaking at the opening sessions of the Doha Forum, a gathering for global leaders.
?? YES: A professor of Middle East studies translated the seven-second clip and told the Associated Press that Qatar’s emir said: “The issue of Palestine, I’ll begin by saying it’s a case of a people uprooted from their lands, and displaced from their nation.”
NewsLit takeaway: This viral rumor relies on two tactics to spread this falsehood about Qatar. First, it takes an old video clip of a speech by the emir of Qatar out of context — a relatively easy thing to do with a short clip of someone speaking at an event. Second, the rumor exploits a language barrier, a frequent strategy of purveyors of disinformation. When people encounter a translated video, they should first look at its source. Who is providing the translation? Are they trustworthy? In this case, an account that regularly propagates false claims spread the translation. Considering the source is key to evaluating viral posts.
Kicker of the week
Just seven individual accounts on X got a cumulative total of 1.6 billion views during the initial three days of the Israel-Hamas war — outperforming posts shared by legitimate news organizations, according to a study from the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington.
One last thing...
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