Published 31 January 2024 at 10.29
Media. After receiving criticism for publishing an outright false report on sexual assault on October 7, the New York Times newsroom is boiling internally.
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TwittraShare< p>The New York Times has made a point of appearing more neutral than its competitors on the Israel-Palestine issue. The high-profile liberal newspaper presents information that can sometimes, at least superficially, appear as criticism of Israel.
But at the turn of the year, the newspaper published an article about alleged sexual assaults allegedly committed by Hamas on October 7. Purely hair-raising testimony – such as Hamas terrorists allegedly cutting off women's breasts with carpet knives and then playing with them – was cited as fact without any supporting evidence in the form of photographs, autopsy reports or the like.
< p>The Israeli family that the New York Times used as the basis for the article says they were deceived by the newspaper. There is no indication that the daughter was raped, as the New York Times claims. Apparently she was killed in the fighting between Hamas and Israel – by her husband's side – on October 7.
Victims kin: New York Times lies about Hamas rapes.
Venue newspaper accused of spreading grotesque fantasy stories.
"Media made it up", family of "raped woman in black dress" ;. https://t.co/AL1gSCu10c
— Fria Tider (@friatider) January 5, 2024
The controversial report was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Gettleman and is creating even more bitter conflict in the editorial office, writes The Intercept. A podcast episode that was supposed to be about the “reveal” has had to be canceled. A new draft of the show has been produced but not yet aired because of the criticism, according to the Intercept.
Internal critics worry that the article has become another worrying journalistic debacle for the respected publication, which has the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness”.
– There seems to be no self-awareness at the top. The story deserved more fact-checking and much more reporting, says a New York Times newsroom source.
Critics have highlighted major discrepancies in what family members are reported to say in the article compared to subsequent public comments by the family.
The New York Times, as noted, must maintain the appearance of having a more balanced reporting on the issue – not least considering that it has many non-Jewish left-liberal readers who are not too fond of Israel's treatment of the civilian population on The Gaza Strip.
However, according to The Intercept, the newspaper has on several occasions recently changed its reporting on Israel under pressure from CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America – a pro-Israel interest group that sees it as its mission to work for a more “fair” media coverage of Israel.