The damage of false reporting can never be undone

In today’s media, “hits” are the metric of success. The more clicks, the more powerful the piece.

By that measure, The New York Times ’ July 24, 2025, front-page photo of Mohammed al-Mutawaq —presented as a starving Gazan child under the headline “Young, Old and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: There Is Nothing”—was a triumph. It drew massive attention. Mohammed became the face of the false allegation that Israel is purposefully starving Palestinian children, sparking an avalanche of criticism against the Jewish state.

But five days later, the paper quietly issued a correction : Mohammed had “pre-existing health problems.” The correction received only a fraction of the clicks.

This cycle of false news is relentless.

Just last weekend, the BBC ran a report with the headline, “G