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In May 2024, “Broken News Breaking Trust: The Consequences of Unverified Reporting in the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital Coverage” was awarded first place in the Walter S. and Syrena M. Howell Essay Competition.
The contest was judged by a panel of faculty members from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
My achievement was announced on Medill’s website and in its Alumni magazine.
Essay
Prompt: Find an example (big or small) in current social, political or academic discourse in which journalists have used or misused unverified facts as though they were true. Write an essay (<2500 words) about the incident(s) in question, the truth as best you can verify it and your analysis of the media's role in the incident.
Broken News, Breaking Trust: The Consequences of Unverified Reporting in the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital Coverage
Aaron Boorstein
2043 words
On October 17, 2023, chaos ensued as conflicting reports swirled around an explosion at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry first announced the blast, declaring an Israeli air strike killed at least 500 Palestinians. Major news outlets immediately ran with this claim: The Associated Press reported, “Hundreds killed in Israeli airstrike on Gaza City hospital, Health Ministry says,” and The New York Times wrote, “Israeli Strike Kills Hundreds in Hospital, Palestinian Officials Say.” Most major news organizations, including ABC News, Axios, the BBC, Reuters, Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, featured similar headlines amplifying the Gaza Health Ministry’s claim, with some sending accompanying mobile push alerts.
However, the Israel Defense Forces quickly denied this, attributing the explosion to a malfunctioned rocket launched within Gaza by the Hamas-allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad; Islamic Jihad rejected the IDF’s claim. Headlines shifted across outlets to reflect the unverified, evolving narrative several hours after the Gaza Health Ministry’s announcement: The AP posted, “Blast kills hundreds at Gaza hospital; Hamas and Israel trade blame, as Biden heads to Mideast,” and The Times displayed, “Hundreds Dead in Blast at Gaza Hospital, Palestinians Say,” with a secondary headline, “Israeli and Gazan Officials Blame Each Other for Explosion.”
While acknowledging the challenges of real-time reporting with limited information, today’s news organizations often prioritize breaking news first at accuracy’s expense. This trend, driven by the economic and social demands of the competitive digital news cycle, compromises journalistic integrity and deteriorates media trust.
The above paragraphs are the introduction. Please contact me to read the remainder of the essay.
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