Haaretz, ‘apartheid,’ and Twitter - Progression of a lie

Gilead Ini..
Times of Israel..
11 November '12..

They say a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. And with communication technology like Facebook and Twitter, this has never been more true than today.

But what happens once the truth is fully dressed? What if, to take the travel analogy a bit further, the lie continues to circulate unhindered because the truth lives in an unpopular, under-served neighborhood, which discriminatory taxi drivers prefer to avoid?

This is what seemed to happen after the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published a widely criticized and inaccurate article about a public opinion poll about Israeli attitudes. Journalists on Twitter were quick to spread misinformation about the poll, but did not appear to think the facts that quickly emerged were worth sharing .

Prominent among the many problems with the Haaretz article, written by anti-Israel columnist Gideon Levy, was its outrageous and false headline: “Survey: Most Israeli Jews support apartheid regime in Israel.” As many observers quickly pointed out, the survey contained no such finding  — the headline was a complete lie.

Indeed, notwithstanding spin by the author and the false headline, which Haaretz would eventually change after conceding that it “did not accurately reflect” the survey’s findings, a reader looking through the article for evidence of a poll question about support for apartheid would find nothing at all.

(Read full "...Progression of a lie")

Link: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/apartheid-and-ethics-on-twitter/

Gilead Ini is a senior research analyst at CAMERA, where his writing on media coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict highlights how one-sided and inaccurate reporting can distort understanding of the Middle East

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook.
.