Update Sunday 9:20 ET: Al Jazeera on Sunday apologized for its language choice.
Al Jazeera on Sunday said that its critics had a “valid” point that the original wording of the tweet advertising its story and the similarly worded headline “appears to minimize 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 network said in an editor's note posted on its website.
“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,” the network added.
Original story below.
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Al Jazeera is under fire after running a headline on a Palestinian's stabbing spree Saturday night that left two Israeli fathers dead.
“Palestinian shot dead after fatal stabbing in Jerusalem; 2 Israeli victims also killed," the headline read.
Following the outcry, the headline was revised to read, “Two Israelis killed in stabbing attack; Palestinian suspect shot dead.”
People on social media skewered the Qatar-owned network for highlighting the Palestinian perpetrator's death, with some imagining how Al Jazeera might have covered past criminal acts.
A couple of people got stabbed in Israel and then the cops went out and shot some other guy. Could you BE more unclear #aljazeera ?
— Usuallyrite (@usuallyrite) October 4, 2015AlJazeera have outJazeerad.....AlJazeera #NotJournalismhttps://t.co/nUPdx9i1Oo
— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) October 3, 2015@MsIntervention @JeffreyGoldberg that's like saying "Oregon School Shooter mortally wounded by police. 8 others also killed.
— Patrick Skinner (@SkinnerPm) October 3, 2015@AviMayer @redsteeze Here's @AJENews on 9/11/01 "Four Islamic student-pilots perish in separate plane crashes. 3000 civilians also killed."
— Waldo (@AndyWIII) October 4, 2015Al Jazeera wasn’t the only network singled out for its misleading headline.
BBC’s original headline on the same attack similarly glossed over the fact that the Palestinian was the perpetrator. It read, “Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two.”
Screenshot: BBC
The British broadcaster’s headline was revised at least three times, prompting the pro-Israel media watchdog BBC Watch to comment, “In other words, professional journalists supposedly fluent in the English language had to make three changes to the article’s headline in not much more than an hour."
BBC Watch captured screenshots of the evolution of the headline.
The two Israelis killed Saturday night were walking to Jerusalem’s Western Wall for prayers for the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
The knife-wielding Palestinian attacked the Jewish man, his wife and their toddler son along with a rabbi.
The two slain men killed have been identified as Rabbi Nechemia Lavie, a father of seven, and the toddler’s father, Rabbi Aharon Benita. The mother and toddler were also wounded, Israeli police said.
Israel police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the Palestinian attacker took a gun from one of the wounded men and began firing at police and tourists before being shot dead by Israeli police.
Neither the BBC nor Al Jazeera described the incident as an act of terrorism.
Featured image: AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean
