It took a couple of days and complaints from both HonestReporting and you, our readers, but the National Post has finally listened and amended a shocking headline.
The National Post republished a Washington Post report on the brutal murder of 13 year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel, using the following headline:
HonestReporting contacted the National Post as far back as Friday asking the question if the butchering of a young girl in her bedroom by a Palestinian couldn’t be called a terrorist attack then what could?
“What Israel calls a terrorist attack”?!! What would u call butchering a 13yr old girl @nationalpost? #Headlinefail pic.twitter.com/tQUFn081lq
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 1, 2016
Finally, HonestReporting has received an email response from the National Post, a Canadian media outlet with a previously good record of fair reporting on Israel.
The National Post has assured us that there was never any intention to call into question what had happened and that staff on the website have been reminded to treat these events more carefully in future.
The headline has now been amended to the following:
While it would have been preferable for the headline to have referred to a terrorist attack in no uncertain terms, this is nonetheless a successful outcome in a case that caused immense upset to many people in the aftermath of such a terrible act of terror.
