Media has egg on its face for allowing Hamas to set initial tone of Gaza hospital coverage

Much of the legacy media has egg on its face for allowing the Hamas-backed Gaza Health Ministry to set the initial framing when covering an explosion that occurred at a Gaza hospital earlier this week. Many news organizations that were quick to repeat Hamas’ claim that Israel was at fault have since walked it back, but watchdogs believe it was a "terrible mistake" with lasting consequences. 

The Israel Defense Force determined the blast was caused by a rocket misfire launched by Islamic Jihad, another terrorist organization active in Gaza. President Biden, based on evidence from the IDF and U.S. intelligence, has publicly said Israel was not to blame. But that hasn’t stopped protests around the world from people who still believe Hamas talking points that were published by major media outlets. 

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume called it a "media fiasco" and scolded news organizations that echoed Hamas propaganda without skepticism.

"Look, any story on this would properly report what the Palestinians were saying. But they would also be informed, I would think, of the fact that the Palestinian health authority or whatever the organization is called that put out this original claim that Israel was responsible, is governed by Hamas," Hume said Wednesday on "Special Report."

"So, this is what the terrorists are saying about an alleged terror attack from Israel. So… you treat it with great skepticism. That, alas, is not what happened in far too many corners of the media and western media in general. There were huge headlines, yes, they all said this is what the Palestinians were saying. But that gave you the impression that this is what some innocent Palestinians caught up in all of this were saying. That’s not the case," Hume continued. 

Hume pointed out that Hamas committed "one of the most hideous atrocities that we have seen in a very long time" on Oct. 7. 

"The idea that you would parrot propaganda from that source, as if it were legitimate… without great skepticism, seems to me is a terrible mistake," he said.