On August 16, CTV News Channel Anchor Brad Giffen erroneously claimed that an Israeli officer had stabbed a Palestinian to death.
At 3:47pm (EST), Giffen erroneously stated the following: “A funeral was held today for a Palestinian man who was killed after a stabbing by an Israeli security officer. A large group of men carried the body of the 21-year-old through the streets of the west bank Saturday. The man stabbed by an officer in the back while he was doing a routine security check, another near-by officer opened fire and killed the attacker. It was the second stabbing attack on an Israeli security official on Saturday.”
You can watch this report by clicking here or on the image below.
Contrary to what CTV reported, the dead Palestinian man was the one who stabbed the Israeli officer, and not the other way around. The Israeli officer did not stab the Palestinian. In fact, CTVnews.ca confirms the veracity of this information via an Associated Press article on August 15 entitled: “2 Palestinians shot after stabbings on Israeli security forces in West Bank” which says:
“Israeli military and police shot two Palestinians, one fatally, after separate stabbing attacks on security forces in the West Bank on Saturday, authorities said.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a Palestinian approached officers conducting a routine security check and stabbed one in the back with a knife, moderately wounding him. An officer nearby opened fire and killed the attacker, identified by doctors at Rafidia hospital in Nablus as 21-year-old Rafeq Ahmad al-Taj.
Earlier in the day, a Palestinian was shot by Israeli troops after asking soldiers at a West Bank border crossing for a glass of water, then stabbing the soldier who turned to get it, the military said.”
In light of this information, and on behalf of our over 30,000 subscribers, many of whom are regular CTV News viewers, we called on CTV News to issue an immediate on-air correction to set the record straight on this incident.
We are pleased to report that following our complaint which was sent to several CTV News executives, the following on-air clarification was broadcast on August 17 and was read by Anchor Merella Fernandez: “We would like to issue a clarification on a story we brought to you this time yesterday afternoon. We reported about the funeral of a Palestinian man and incorrectly indicated the man had been fatally stabbed by an Israeli security officer. In fact, it was the Palestinian man who had stabbed the Israeli security officer. We regret the error.”
To watch the on-air clarification please click here or on the image below.
Here is a reply we received from CTV News Channel General Manager Lisa Beaton sent to HRC’s Executive Director, Mike Fegelman:
August 17, 2015
Dear Mr. Fegelman,
I’m writing in response to your email sent to Wendy Freeman and Dave Hughes today. It concerns our erroneous reporting on the funeral for a Palestinian man in the West Bank yesterday. Upon reviewing the replay of what went to air at 3:47 pm Eastern time Sunday, there is indeed a discrepancy in the actual events leading to the man’s death and what we reported. Unfortunately, this was the result of human error. This is a situation we take seriously and we are taking steps to correct it. You should know that we checked the actual script written by our editorial team and it was written correctly and that the error was an inadvertent one.
We will be issuing a clarification on the matter. We regret the error and we want to assure you that this was an isolated incident that does not reflect the views of CTV News.
Sincerely,
Lisa Beaton | General Manager
CTV News Channel
