Double Correction for Press Association Rocket Attack Headline

In the aftermath of a Gaza rocket attack that destroyed a house in the Israeli community of Mishmeret, injuring seven people, we noted the Irish Independent’s faulty headline misleadingly stating that Israeli troops were mobilizing in Gaza.

We pointed out to the media outlet that the mobilization was taking place on the Israeli side of the border and that there were not IDF soldiers inside Gaza. The headline was duly corrected to: “Israel reinforcing troops along Gaza border following rocket attack.”

However, the Irish Independent’s story and the headline came directly from its wire service feed from the Press Association, a news agency used by virtually every major national and regional media outlet in the UK and Ireland.

Here’s how the headline appeared in the Irish Examiner:

After HonestReporting contacted the PA, the news agency acknowledged its error and quickly changed the headline, automatically updating the dozens of news sites that had republished the story. The result, however, was astonishing:

Why the scare quotes around “Gaza rocket attack”?

Is there any doubt as to what happened and where the rocket originated from? Absolutely not and to use scare quotes to cast such doubt is unacceptable.

Given that the scare quotes were not in the original headline, it was unfathomable as to why they had now been inserted, particularly since it had been a few days since the original incident.

To its credit, the PA removed the scare quotes within minutes of a follow up email from us. Those media outlets, including the Daily Mail, that carried the news agency’s story, now have the correct headline: “Israel mobilises troops following Gaza rocket attack.”