Fresh Air

The welfare of children in a war zone is a sensitive and emotionally loaded subject, which is why the care journalists must use to report accurately and responsibly on stories that involve them is that much greater.Yet the ABC failed to meet the appropriate standards as outlined in its charter regarding a story revolving around this topic last weekend – a story that originated with a tweet by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on November 3 about an explosion in northern Gaza that injured six people, including four children, at a clinic dispensing polio vaccinations.

ABC NewsRadio prioritised the story, running it virtually every hour throughout the day and evening.

The following morning, Nov. 4, the ABC posted a story about the incident to its website.

Yet disconcertingly, ABC newsreaders repeatedly incorrectly claimed that the WHO had attributed the blast to an “Israeli airstrike”.

In fact, Dr Ghebreyesus had only called it a “strike”, without specifying if the blast had come from the air or land and did not ascribe blame – neither to Israel nor Hamas.

While correctly reporting that the IDF had denied responsibility, the ABC’s reports repeatedly parroted an unsubstantiated Palestinian claim that the attack had been specifically carried out by a “helicopter”, adding specificity to the allegation of an airstrike that, in the minds of the listener, could only lay blame at Israel’s feet.

Finally, in the website article the next day – Nov. 5 – the Palestinian allegation had morphed from an Israeli helicopter attack to a “drone strike”. Yet there was no acknowledgement in ABC reporting that Palestinian sources had changed their story.

After the IDF finalised its investigation – which ascribed the explosion to an IED planted by Palestinian terrorists – the ABC failed to update its online article to include the more detailed Israeli response.

Taken together, the way the ABC handled reporting of the incident serves as a classic example of the failure by ABC news programs to provide audiences or readers with accurate and up-to-date information, particularly when later developments exonerate Israel of malicious claims.

The following is a detailed look at the progression of this story onABC NewsRadio on Nov. 3, and the ABC’s online news reports the following day.

Timeline of ABC’s misleading reporting on the incident

On Nov. 3, WHO’s Ghebreyesus tweeted:

We have received an extremely concerning report that the Sheikh Radwan primary health care centre in northern #Gaza was struck today while parents were bringing their children to the life-saving #polio vaccination in an area where a humanitarian pause was agreed to allow vaccination to proceed. Six people, including four children, were injured.
A @WHO team was at the site just before. This attack, during humanitarian pause, jeopardises the sanctity of health protection for children and may deter parents from bringing their children for vaccination.
These vital humanitarian-area-specific pauses must be absolutely respected. Ceasefire!

NewsRadio picked up the story with its hourly headlines beginning at 9am, and right away misreported the story, claiming that the WHO had blamed an “Israeli” strike, although the audio clip from the BBC’s Joe Inwood that followed did not support that claim.

Newsradio: Nov. 3, 9am

NewsRadio’s top of the hour newsreader [Kerry Worthington] (9:01:47 – 9:01:57):
The World Health Organisation says six people, including four children, have been injured in an Israeli strike [emphasis added] on a polio vaccination centre in Gaza City. BBC’s Joe Inwood reports.

[Joe Inwood, BBC] (9:01:57 – 9:02:31):
Before the start of the vaccination programme, the World Health Organisation were keen to emphasise the risks involved. Those fears seem to have been realised at the Sheikh Radwan Healthcare Centre in Gaza City today. Posting on social media, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said his team had just left the site when it was struck in an area supposed to be covered by humanitarian pause.

In recent weeks, the north of the Gaza Strip has been the focus of a major Israeli offensive to prevent Hamas fighters regrouping. The vaccination campaign is supposed to run for two more days, an attempt to prevent an outbreak of the deadly polio virus.

Newsreader Worthington introduced the story with the same script at 10am, but this time ran a clip from ABC reporter Satyam Weinstein about the WHO’s social media post. Like the BBC’s Inwood, Weinstein also did not ascribe blame to Israel.

At 11am, Worthington changed scripts, leading with Israel’s denial. But this time ABC reporter Satyam Weinstein said unnamed Palestinian officials [and of course, in Gaza, Palestinian officials are employed by Hamas] said an “Israeli helicopter” was responsible for the attacks.

[Kerry Worthington]
Good morning. Kerry Worthington with ABC News. Israel has denied it’s behind a strike on a polio vaccination centre in Gaza City that’s left six people wounded. Satyam Weinstein reports. 

[Satyam Weinstein]
The World Health Organisation says four children were among those wounded in the attack on the Sheikh Radwan Health Care Centre just moments after a vaccination team left the facility. Palestinian officials have blamed an Israeli helicopter for the strike, but the Israeli military is rejecting the accusation. The WHO says the attack on the same day its polio vaccination drive resumed could hamper efforts to stop the spread of the disease. It says the strike may deter parents from bringing in their children for vaccinations. The area was supposed to be covered by a humanitarian pause to allow the campaign to proceed.

At noon, NewsRadio newsreader Kerry Worthington reverted to the claim of an “Israeli strike”, while reporter Weinstein left out the Palestinian allegation of an “Israeli helicopter”.

Neither Worthington nor Weinstein included the IDF’s denial of responsibility.

By 1pm, the ABC’s Mandy Presland had taken over hosting duties.

Presland’s script erroneously claimed that the WHO had termed the attack an “airstrike” – implying Israeli blame. Presland included both Israel’s denial but also the Palestinian claim of an “Israeli helicopter”.

The 2pm report followed an identical script to the 11am report.

At 4pm, Presland read from the erroneous script that her predecessor Worthington used at noon, which said “the World Health Organisation claims a polio vaccination centre in Gaza has been hit by an Israeli strike.”

Ironically, only five minutes later, in a scheduled BBC World Service simulcast on ABC NewsRadio, the BBC’s Inwood noted correctly about Ghebreyesus’ tweet that “it was interesting he was quite careful to not say where it had come from, where the strike had originated. I mean he was quite deliberate in his language.”

Yet it appeared that ABC NewsRadio scriptwriters had tuned out, because at 5pm, Presland once more claimed the WHO had called it an “airstrike”, and also repeated the Palestinian claim of a helicopter attack.

At 8pm, the ABC’s David Rowlands repeated the 5pm script.

Palestinian story changes, while ABC fails to update with IDF’s investigation outcome
 
On the morning of Nov. 4, the ABC posted an online roundup of news items related to the war.

The webpage led with the WHO-related incident from the previous day.

The headline used was “Israel denies responsibility for drone strike on Gaza polio vaccination centre”.

Apparently, the ABC believed the claim that it was a drone strike that caused the explosion was so factually credible, it was not necessary to even place it in quotes in the headline.

Yet whose claim was that it was now a “drone strike”? Gaza’s health ministry [That it is Hamas-run was not deemed worthy of mention]. What happened to the previous claim aired repeatedly on ABC that it was an “Israeli helicopter”? Scrubbed from the narrative without any acknowledgement that the allegations had changed.

Israel’s response was reduced to the following line:

An Israeli military spokesperson, Nadav Shoshani, said Israel ‘did not strike in the area at the specified time.’

Yet shortly after the ABC ran its online report, the IDF issued a more detailed report about the incident on its Twitter account.

However, the ABC did not bother updating the online story to include the IDF’s highly credible explanation that it had determined an improvised explosive device, or IED, planted by a terror group had caused the explosion.

In recent months, IEDs have been increasingly used by terror groups in Gaza as a means of inflicting casualties on IDF troops without having to confront them directly.

The IDF’s full social media statement read:

“As part of the humanitarian aid efforts and appropriate medical response for the residents of northern Gaza Strip, the IDF, through COGAT, is facilitating and easing the evacuation of hospitals in northern Gaza Strip.

“During the evacuation coordinated with COGAT, a convoy was transferred this evening to transport patients and companions from the ‘Kamāl Adwān’ and ‘Al-Awda’ hospitals to other hospitals in northern Gaza Strip. Additionally, as part of the convoy, humanitarian aid was sent to the hospitals, including food, water, fuel, and medical equipment to maintain and operate the essential systems of the hospitals.

“While the convoy was passing near the ‘Kamāl Adwān’ hospital, a report was received from the World Health Organization (WHO) about an explosion near the convoy, just a few hundred meters from the hospital. The explosion caused shrapnel damage to the courtyard and roof of the hospital and to the vehicles of the convoy parked nearby; there were no casualties among the convoy personnel.

“In light of the incident, officers from the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza at COGAT contacted the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and clarified that this was an explosive device planted by terrorist organizations, which systematically exploit civilian institutions, particularly hospitals, to promote terrorist objectives while harming international organizations and uninvolved parties.

“Additionally, after an examination by officers from the Gaza Coordination Administration with hospital authorities, it was found that six children staying there were injured, alongside damage to the roof and courtyard of the hospital.

The IDF, through COGAT, will continue to operate in accordance with international law to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, particularly in the field of medicine.”

Conclusion

Throughout Nov. 3 and into the next morning, ABC NewsRadiorepeatedly misinformed listeners that no less of an authority than the Director-General of the World Health Organisation had blamed Israel for attacking Palestinian children. Yet a simple reading of his short social media post made it clear he has been careful not to do this – and BBC journalists featured in ABC stories specifically pointed this out.

This misreporting not only should never have made it to air if there was basic proof-reading, the fact that NewsRadio airs only a few minutes of news every hour on Sunday should have given ABC newsroom staff extra time to fact-check their scripts. This fact-checking was not done, and the error was repeated by different staff members during different shifts all day long.

The following day, a separate section of the ABC published its own narrative, claiming what had occurred was definitively caused by a “drone strike”. In doing so, it failed to flag that the Palestinian claim had shifted from an Israeli helicopter attack, to a drone strike – completely different aircraft that cannot be mistaken for one another.

Finally, the results of an Israeli investigation, the details of which are at least as credible as any allegation by a Hamas-affiliated official, was left out of the story, and the story was never updated even though a simple check with the IDF Spokesperson’s office would have confirmed that a report on the allegation was forthcoming.

What the ABC news consumers were left with was a fundamentally misleading and misreported story, repeated over and over, that portrays the IDF as the perpetrators of acts of malice against children, with only perfunctory mentions of IDF denials when a more detailed rebuttal was available. This was reporting that blatantly fails to meet the standards of the ABC’s charter, or fulfill its obligations of professionalism and impartiality as a taxpayer-funded institution.