UKMW prompts Times of London correction – reminds editors of difference between fact and opinion

Times of London editors upheld our complaint and revised the sentence in question to note that it was only the opinion of former UN General Secretary that Israel had committed crimes against children, not an indisputable fact.

We spend a good deal of time communicating with editors, not only attempting to prove that their claims about Israel are inaccurate, and also cautioning them to carefully distinguish – in their coverage of the region – between facts and opinions.  The accuracy clause of Editors’ Code in the UK includes a section (iv) on this principle.

The Press, while free to editorialize and campaign, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.

It is in this spirit that we tweeted the following to Times of London concerning a piece titled “UN will not shame Saudis over child deaths” which included a paragraph about the UN’s decision not to include Israel on a list of countries who “commit grave violations of children’s rights”.

UKMW lodged an official complaint with editors, per the section of the accuracy clause noted above.

They upheld our complaint and revised the sentence in question to note that it was only the opinion of former UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon that Israel had committed crimes against children, not an undisputed fact as passage suggests.

Political pressure also prevented the Israeli Defence Forces from being listed a year earlier over what Mr Ban referred to as “grave violations” committed during the 2014 war in Gaza, despite the recommendation of Leila Zerrougui, the special representative on children and armed conflict at the time.

We commend Times editors on the correction. 

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