The Ghost of Snapped Shot

Caption sent across by Reuters for this photo:

Damage is seen on an Israeli naval ship after it arrived at the port city of Tyre in south Lebanon December 30, 2008. A small boat carrying international activists with aid for Gaza docked in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Tuesday after a clash with an Israeli naval ship forced it to divert to Lebanon. REUTERS/Haidar Hawila (LEBANON)

Moments later, the agency corrects with:

REFILE - CORRECTING THE TYPE OF BOAT A boat damaged by an Israeli naval ship arrives at the port city of Tyre in south Lebanon December 30, 2008. A small boat carrying international activists with aid for Gaza docked in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Tuesday after a clash with an Israeli naval ship forced it to divert to Lebanon. REUTERS/Haidar Hawila (LEBANON)

I offer my advice to the Reuters Middle East desk from yesterday once more—Hopefully, they will listen this time.

Update: I guess it's worth pointing out that this is not the first time that the performance of the Reuters Middle East bureau has been called into question.

One wonders if anyone over at Corporate is paying attention—or if the staff in London think that things there are "good enough" just because the news keeps fitting their preconceived notions of reality?

Update: Welcome, esteemed Society for Professional Journalism Press Notes readers! We may not agree on every last point, but I trust that we all can agree wholeheartedly that accuracy in reporting is paramount. -Ed.

Update again: Wow, that was fast—Apparently, SPJ editors don't make it a practice read the blogs they link ahead of time, as it would seem that they've pulled the link I referenced above. One presumes they've done so because of disagreements with our editorial position—which would be unfortunate.

Ergo, for posterity's sake:



For the record, I stand behind my remark on accuracy above.

 Tags: haidar hawila REUTERS #Fact-checking

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