Monday, November 25, 2013

Belgium: Following repeated complaints, newspaper fixes headline blaming a Jew for death of American diplomats


On September 13th, 2012, Belgian newspaper De Standaard published an article claiming that Sam Bacile, an Israeli Jew, made a film mocking Muhammad.  The headline stated that a Jewish Israeli and American pastor knowingly insulted Mohammed, thereby leading to the death of American diplomats in Libya.  This despite the fact that:
1. By that time the world media was already questioning who Bacile really was
2. Such baseless accusations could have led to a serious backlash against Jews and Israelis worldwide

Besides which, the film was not the reason for the murder of the American diplomats.

Original headline: Israeli Jew blamed for the death of
American diplomats in Libya
Following complaints, De Standaard added a note at the bottom explaining that despite the headline, Bacile is not a Jew.  However, the article soon became viewable only for paying subscribers, and the note was thereby not visible.

A couple more complaints on the topic in the past few months led De Standaard to fix the article again.  The site added a note to the headline stating that "after the article had gone to press, the man who identified himself as Sam Bacile and an Israeli Jew turned out to be neither Israeli nor Jewish.  Sam Bacile was a pseudonym".


Correction added

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