„Human Error“

Neben AFP hatte dpa (in englischer Sprache) unter Berufung auf „palästinensische“ Zeugen in der vergangenen Woche vom gewaltsamen Tod eines „palästinensischen“ Jugendlichen berichtet:

„Witnesses said that Mohamed al-Farmawi, 15, of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah was shot dead by Israeli troops after he approached the fence along the border with Israel, which lies east of the town.“

Auch diese Nachrichtenagentur wurde nach einer Richtigstellung befragt. Sie erfolgte (wiederum in englischer Sprache) heute, zu einem Zeitpunkt also, da AFP „nicht mehr tätig werden können“ will.

Hier zum Vergleich das Statement von dpa:

„Thank-you for your query regarding the report about the teenage Palestinian boy. Today (Tuesday) we did run a new story in which dpa talked with the boy’s father and – admittedly belatedly – set the record straight about what indeed had been a confusing story.

In addressing your comments about whether dpa is not interested in the fate of the youngster or does not have a problem with wrong information, the answer is ’no‘ in both instances; the story originated from dpa’s Palestinian reporter in the area, and strictly speaking, the first report was not a ‚Falschmeldung‘ by dpa, but rather a false claim made by the Palestinian authorities themselves (as the later Ma’an News Agency story makes clear). Unfortunately, on the day that the boy was returned to his family our reporter was off-duty and the story simply went unnoticed. It was human error, but certainly not intentional, that the development was missed.

sincerely,
D.S.
dpa English Service“