Overview

• On August 4, the Times appended a buried editor’s note and updated its front-page story to acknowledge that 18-month-old Mohammed Zakariya al-Matouq had pre-existing health conditions including a muscle disorder.
• The correction followed five days of pressure from the Israeli consulate in New York and media watchdog HonestReporting.
• Internal communications obtained by Semafor indicate that top editors rejected images of children with pre-existing conditions yet still failed to source a suitable photo of a healthy child suffering malnutrition.
• Algemeiner criticized the Times’ apology as insufficient and argued the misrepresented photo has been weaponized to vilify Israel on the international stage.
• Former New York Times creative services editor Yaakov Ort publicly accused the paper of 'twisting' facts in its Israel-Hamas coverage and neglecting evidence of Israeli hostages’ suffering.