President Joe Biden harshly criticized The New York Times for citing Hamas’ claim that an Israeli airstrike bombed a hospital located inside the Gaza Strip, according to Semafor.
The Times, along with many other corporate media outlets, immediately parroted the Ministry of Health in Gaza’s accusation about the Oct. 17 bombing and claimed the attack killed 500 people. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and U.S. intelligence officials presented evidence showing a misfire launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad hit the parking lot of the hospital, and found no evidence of Israeli involvement.
New from last night’s @semafor media newsletter: Biden privately complained about the NYT’s Gaza coverage https://t.co/tklt5cFal9
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) October 30, 2023
Biden held a small meeting with Wall Street executives in the White House’s Roosevelt Room early last week where he reportedly raged against the Times for including the “irresponsible” headline “in an American newspaper, Semafor reported. He said the report could have caused a military escalation in the Middle East. (RELATED: ‘Propaganda To The Tenth Degree’: Democrat Rep Calls Out Members Of His Own Party For Blindly Following Hamas’ Word)
Liberal outlets stealth-edited the headlines once Israeli and U.S. officials disputed claims about Israel causing the bombing. Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “the other team” likely caused the bombing during his Oct. 18 visit to Israel.
The Biden administration dismissed the Gaza Health Ministry’s recorded death numbers as propaganda, Semafor reported. One source reportedly told Semafor that some staffers at the Times have pushed their colleagues not to cite the health ministry’s numbers.
The Times’s editorial team apologized for its initial coverage of the bombing in an Oct. 23 statement, regretting its reliance on claims made by Hamas.
“The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast,” the statements reads. “However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.”
“Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified. Newsroom leaders continue to examine procedures around the biggest breaking news events — including for the use of the largest headlines in the digital report — to determine what additional safeguards may be warranted,” the statement continued.
The Times later reported that the Hamas-run health ministry has yet to provide any information on the alleged 471 victims who they say were killed. It also reported that the bomb hit the parking lot rather than the building.
Fox News’ Pete Hegseth compared this coverage to the newspaper not covering the Holocaust “in real time” in the 1930s and ’40s during an Oct. 23 segment of the network’s program, “Outnumbered.”
The president has had a difficult relationship with the Times since the newspaper cast doubt on his electoral changes ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Semafor reported. He has turned his back on interviews with news reporters, and instead has sat down with friendlier opinion columnists.