On April 21, the Toronto Star published an article by Richie Assalay, a digital producer for the Star, to its website which was entitled: “Elyanna is making history at Coachella. Here’s how the Palestinian-Chilean singer is taking Arabic music global”.
We took note that the article erroneously claimed that: “Elyanna, whose full name is Elian Marjieh, was born and raised in Nazareth, a predominantly Palestinian city in northern Israel.”
Importantly, when the article was first published, the Star had accurately had reported that Elyanna “was born and raised in Nazareth, a predominantly Arab city in northern Israel.” However, this reference was edited shortly thereafter and was struck from the report and was replaced with the erroneous version above.
In an HonestReporting Canada complaint sent to the Toronto Star, we conveyed that the claim that Nazareth is a “predominantly Palestinian city” is patently false. Nazareth is an Israeli city comprised predominantly of Arabs and Arabs in Israel overwhelmingly identify as Arabs, not as Palestinians. In fact, only 7% of Israeli-Arabs, according to polls, regard themselves as Palestinian.
Accordingly, we requested that this report be corrected as soon as possible. We are pleased to note that the Star upheld our complaint and corrected their false reporting. An editors note was appended to the bottom of online version of this article which states:
“Editor’s note: April 22, 2023. This story has been updated to reflect that Nazareth is a predominantly Arab city in Israel that is home to thousands of Palestinians.”
As well, the April 24 print version of this article correctly reported that Nazareth is a predominantly Arab city in northern Israel.
We thank the Toronto Star for taking swift corrective action and for its cooperation.
