Quarterly Impact Report

April — June 2023

Notable Successes

Responding to the Wave of Terror

Israel continues to suffer from a wave of Palestinian terror and the resulting skewed coverage in the international media.

On one weekend at the end of January, Israel’s capital was rocked by two terror attacks within the span of 14 hours when a terrorist opened fire outside a synagogue in the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, murdering seven people and injuring three more. Then, hours later, a 13-year-old Palestinian opened fire on a group of Jews returning from prayer in the Silwan neighborhood outside the Old City, wounding a father and son.

On both occasions, HonestReporting responded on social media in real-time as the foreign press published their stories, exposing headline failures, bias, and getting factual information corrected.

On Twitter, HonestReporting’s posts calling out media outlets including The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NPR, The Guardian, The Times of London, and The Independent. One tweet admonishing Reuters was viewed over 165,000 times.

Tragically, HonestReporting was there again when a Palestinian rammed his car into a Jerusalem bus stop only a few weeks later, murdering two young Israeli children. The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, AP, Reuters, BBC, The Times of London, and Daily Mail were immediately challenged on their reporting. One tweet critiquing NPR gained a remarkable 267,000 impressions alone.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour Issues Live Apology Following HonestReporting Campaign

HonestReporting discovered veteran CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour’s throwaway remark that the brutal Palestinian terrorist murders of Lucy, Maia, and Rina Dee were the result of “a shootout.”

We exposed it to the world, along with a demand for an apology that went viral with over 1.5 million views on Twitter. This was later bolstered by Lucy’s widower, Rabbi Leo Dee, and Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Amanpour might have thought she would get away with a private apology to Rabbi Dee, who heard that she had maligned his family from HonestReporting.

But HonestReporting and Rabbi Dee insisted on a public apology on the same highly-rated show in which she made her mistake. We initiated a petition that upped the pressure.

Ten days too late, the public apology arrived: “On April 10, I referred to the murders of an Israeli family: Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee, the wife and daughters of Rabbi Leo Dee,” Amanpour said. “I misspoke and said they were killed in a shootout instead of a shooting. I have written to Rabbi Leo Dee to apologize and make sure that he knows that we apologize for any further pain that may have caused him.”

HonestReporting

@HonestReporting

10:08 AM · Jan 27, 2023 · 165.3K views

Responding to the Wave of Terror

Israel continues to suffer from a wave of Palestinian terror and the resulting skewed coverage in the international media.

On one weekend at the end of January, Israel’s capital was rocked by two terror attacks within the span of 14 hours when a terrorist opened fire outside a synagogue in the northeastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, murdering seven people and injuring three more. Then, hours later, a 13-year-old Palestinian opened fire on a group of Jews returning from prayer in the Silwan neighborhood outside the Old City, wounding a father and son.

On both occasions, HonestReporting responded on social media in real-time as the foreign press published their stories, exposing headline failures, bias, and getting factual information corrected.

On Twitter, HonestReporting’s posts called out media outlets including The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NPR, The Guardian, The Times of London, and The Independent. One tweet admonishing Reuters was seen by over 165,000 readers.

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❤️  1,323       📑  11

SBS Australia Deletes Biased News Podcast, Takes ‘Appropriate Measures’ Against Hate Journalist

After drawing attention to a news podcast published by Australia’s publicly-funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), HonestReporting’s forensic research exposed SBS journalist Essam Al-Ghalib had once tweeted “#F*ckIsrael” and called the Jewish state “the BIGGEST terrorist in the world.” Al-Ghalib moreover described IDF troops as “bloody murderers” and claimed Jerusalem put Palestinians in “concentration camps.”

With the help of Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, HR filed a formal complaint under the SBS Code of Practice while simultaneously asking the broadcaster if Al-Ghalib could be trusted to report on the Arab-Israeli conflict without bias or agenda.

SBS’s Ombudsman upheld HonestReporting’s complaint, stating that steps had been taken to prevent future instances of anti-Israel bias. SBS launched an internal investigation into Al-Ghalib’s hateful tweets, during which he was forced to stand down from his duties. An SBS spokesperson confirmed to HonestReporting that, while the reporter was allowed to return to work, “appropriate measures have been taken to manage this issue.”

SBS Australia Deletes Biased News Podcast, Takes ‘Appropriate Measures’ Against Hate Journalist

After drawing attention to a news podcast published by Australia’s publicly-funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), HonestReporting’s forensic research exposed SBS journalist Essam Al-Ghalib had once tweeted “#F*ckIsrael” and called the Jewish state “the BIGGEST terrorist in the world.” Al-Ghalib moreover described IDF troops as “bloody murderers” and claimed Jerusalem put Palestinians in “concentration camps.”

With the help of Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, HR filed a formal complaint under the SBS Code of Practice while simultaneously asking the broadcaster if Al-Ghalib could be trusted to report on the Arab-Israeli conflict without bias or agenda.

SBS’s Ombudsman upheld HonestReporting’s complaint, stating that steps had been taken to prevent future instances of anti-Israel bias. SBS launched an internal investigation into Al-Ghalib’s hateful tweets, during which he was forced to stand down from his duties. An SBS spokesperson confirmed to HonestReporting that, while the reporter was allowed to return to work, “appropriate measures have been taken to manage this issue.”

Operation Shield and Arrow

When HonestReporting called out the media for sanitizing the terrorist hunger striker Khader Adnan, little did we know that Islamic Jihad’s violent reaction would be the catalyst for a five-day Israeli military operation, bringing a tsunami of faulty media reports.

HonestReporting worked around the clock during Operation Shield and Arrow and in its aftermath. Many media outlets erased the over 100 rockets fired by Islamic Jihad in response to Adnan’s death in favor of making their starting point the Israeli operation to eliminate the terrorists responsible for the rockets.

Some media, including The New York Times and Washington Post sanitized Islamic Jihad, while others such as Reuters suggested there is some kind of moral equivalence between Israel and Islamic Jihad.

HonestReporting was there first and fastest to call out media bias wherever it appeared.

Social Media

HonestReporting’s social media presence has witnessed a dramatic increase since the beginning of 2023 and the figures prove it:

Impressions / Reach

Engagement (Interaction with our content)

Total posts (all platforms)

Posts per day (all platforms)

Video Views

2022 (full year)
4.2 million people
309,173 people
1,646 posts
4.5 posts
139,847 views
2023 (to June 30, 2023)
24.016 million people
1,255,636 people
2,502 posts
13.7 posts
1,587,047 views

2022 (full year)

Impressions / Reach
4.2 million people
Engagement (Interaction with our content)
309,173 people
Total Posts (all platforms)
1,646 posts
Posts per day (all platforms)
4.5 posts
Video Views
139,847 views

HR’s Twitter account is reaching influencers, politicians, and media personalities as many tweets go viral. For example, a tweet addressing the barrage of rockets fired by Gaza terrorists at Israeli cities had an incredible reach of 1.3 million.

HR’s Twitter account is reaching influencers, politicians, and media personalities as many tweets go viral. For example, a detailed thread critiquing a biased New York Times video investigation into IDF actions in Nablus had an incredible reach of over 457,000.

Corrections

In the second quarter of 2023, HonestReporting achieved 20 significant corrections from media outlets including:

HonestReporting in the Media

HonestReporting has increasingly become the source of expertise that top media outlets turn to for interviews and analysis.

Here are just a few of the media outlets where we were published or interviewed in the second quarter of 2023:

Speaking Events and Public Appearances

Gil Hoffman Visits the UK:

HR’s executive director visited London twice in May and June, addressing six of the UK’s largest synagogues as well as important meetings with officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he explained the reality behind the current news about Israel and its government.

Gil also met at the House of Lords with Baroness Ruth Deech, a champion of media transparency and fair coverage of Israel in the UK press.

Gil Hoffman with Baroness Ruth Deech.

Other meetings included with the staff of the Jewish Chronicle, the world’s oldest Jewish newspaper.

Gil Hoffman’s speaking tours brought HonestReporting to communities in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as meeting with many groups in Israel, including:

Interns

HonestReporting takes interns from a variety of Jewish Agency MASA-affiliated programs.

Reaching the younger generation is important to us and our interns don’t spend their time serving us coffee. HonestReporting interns become part of the team and make valuable contributions. So it’s thank you to: