Aunty acknowledges headline ‘was an issue’
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has acknowledged that its coverage of a Palestinian terror attack earlier this month was flawed.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has acknowledged that its coverage of a Palestinian terror attack earlier this month, which claimed the life of an Israeli security officer, was flawed.
The admission comes after both Zionism Victoria (ZV) and the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) lodged complaints with the taxpayer-funded broadcaster over the issue, particularly the headline “Palestinian man killed in Tel Aviv shooting that leaves another critically injured”.
Israeli patrolman Chen Amir, 42, was killed when a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad opened fire in Tel Aviv on the night of Saturday, August 5. His partner then shot and killed the terrorist to prevent him firing at any more people.
The ABC headline made no mention that the Palestinian was a terrorist or that he had been killed after he himself had opened fire, fatally wounding Amir.
In a letter emailed to both ZV and the ZFA earlier this week, the ABC Ombudsman’s Office wrote, “Regarding the headline, ABC News agreed this was an issue: Although the lead line in the body of the story said the Palestinian man was killed after he opened fire, our headlines (main title and teaser title) didn’t make clear that the Palestinian man actually opened fire before he was killed.
“The story has been updated with the full details of what happened and an editor’s note added.
“We consider these steps address the concerns raised and thank you for bringing this to our attention.”
The headline on the story now reads, “Palestinian shooting attack in downtown Tel Aviv kills Israeli security guard”.
Welcoming the response, ZV president Yossi Goldfarb said, “It is incumbent on all news organisations, in particular our national broadcaster, to ensure accuracy in their reporting.
“Nowhere more so is this an issue than in their coverage of Israel where bias, lack of balance and misreporting so often convey a misleading or wholly erroneous impression of the conflict with the Palestinians, ignoring the complex nuances at its heart and the facts on the ground.
“We are grateful the broadcaster has acknowledged its error in this instance, but we hope it will also update its editorial processes to ensure this does not happen again.”
The ZFA also welcomed the correction, but said it remains concerned.
“While it was proper for the ABC to change the headline, what is concerning is the total lack of acknowledgement of the clear breach in the ABC’s Code of Practice,” ZFA president Jeremy Leibler said.
“The original headline manifestly misled readers as to the nature of the event. After reading the ABC’s explanation, we are still mystified how a supposedly impartial journalist could possibly think the headline was appropriate.”
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