Here is the original headline that the New York Times ran to introduce an article describing the results of an unsuccessful Palestinian terrorist attack.
Even the Times realized at some point how completely misleading its headline was, so they dropped in two words that make a huge difference (even though they do add “police say” to perhaps cast some doubt on whether she even had the knife. The original headline had no such caveat.)
But is this really enough? Granted, the fact that the Times — in hindsight — felt readers were entitled to know that this girl had a knife is important. But it does beg the question why whomever was in charge of the headline did not instead make clear that she not only HAD a knife, but she was killed while attempting to USE the knife against an Israeli guard. All they would have had to do was read the first paragraph of the article under the headline to see that she was killed “after she ran at him with a knife.”
But how many people saw the original headline and concluded that an Israeli had killed an innocent girl?
Please send an email to [email protected] and ask why the key detail of the incident was left out of the headline.
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Perhaps we should be thankful that the Times at least made a weak attempt to improve the headline. At Sky News Australia and also The Australian, the unchanged headline reads:
Further down in the article, Sky gives the details:
Holding a knife, she ran toward the security guard at the entrance to Anatot settlement and he opened fire.
Yet no one glancing at the headline would have any idea what really happened.
Please complete the “Your Say” page and comment that the headline was grossly misleading.
Unfortunately, these are just two more examples of the effort that many in the media are making to downplay the true nature of the wave of Palestinian terrorism that Israel is facing.
