As Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu marked ten years in power in Israel this week, The Guardian’s Sunday paper, The Observer, noted the occasion with an analysis article that brought back the ghost of an old problem with that paper.
Whether The Guardian likes it or not, Tel Aviv is not the capital of Israel. Jerusalem is. So when we spotted the error, we moved to let The Guardian know that referring to Tel Aviv as Israel’s seat of government is false and unacceptable.
This is a breach of your own style guide @guardian. While Washington is the US capital, Tel Aviv isn't the capital of Israel. Please correct the error. https://t.co/wmP0hagscc pic.twitter.com/9n0neBInRW
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) March 31, 2019
Same Old Story?
What makes this error particularly egregious, however, is that we’ve been here before.
Almost seven years ago, HonestReporting forced The Guardian to retract the exact same claim, after the paper issued a correction apologizing for calling Jerusalem the capital of Israel.
Back in August 2012, The Guardian posted a photo of passengers on Jerusalem’s light rail observing a minute’s silence for Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. Nothing was wrong with the caption, but a “correction” was later issued by The Guardian, which had originally (and correctly) referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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With The Guardian in clear breach of the UK Press Complaints Commission clause on accuracy, HonestReporting submitted an official complaint. When the PCC shockingly ruled in The Guardian’s favor — stating that the newspaper was entitled to refer to Tel Aviv as Israel’s capital and was not in breach of accuracy clauses — HonestReporting took advice from UK solicitor Trevor Asserson and, for the first time in our history, we launched legal proceedings against the PCC with the threat of a judicial review of the PCC’s decision.
In response to HonestReporting’s pressure on the PCC, The Guardian backed down from its claim, issuing a correction. It also changed its style guide, which had stated that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel, to reflect the correction.
Correction Issued
Following HonestReporting’s tweet on Sunday, The Guardian updated reporter Simon Tisdall’s analysis piece to replace the phrase “Washington and Tel Aviv” with “the US and Israel”.
Notwithstanding other issues we have with the article (Palestinian bodies do not “daily hit the ground under Israeli fire in Gaza”) HonestReporting is glad to see that the Guardian and Observer style guide makes clear that Tel Aviv cannot be referred to as Israel’s capital, and hopes the paper will stick with its own principles.
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