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Rachel O’Donoghue takes aim at CBS News, that recently carried a story about an Israeli airstrike that might have been written — and very likely was written — by a Hamas PR man. More on her telling response can be found here: “Exposed: CBS News Caught Deleting Hamas Propaganda on ‘Martyrs’ & ‘Israeli Aggression’ from Website,” by Rachel O’Donoghue, HonestReporting, April 16, 2025:
It was right there, on their website. For all to see. Evidence that a major American news outlet — one with prestige, resources, and supposedly rigorous editorial standards — had quietly published, almost word-for-word, what can only be described as a press release from a designated terrorist organization.
Earlier this month, CBS News ran a story about an alleged Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza. The headline set the tone: “Israeli strike on Gaza school allegedly kills 31 Palestinians, many kids, but IDF says it hit Hamas.”
Already, the usual red flags: a suspiciously specific death toll, immediate emphasis on children among the casualties, and of course, the requisite skepticism toward the IDF’s explanation — all paired with the now-standard framing of an aggressive Israel recklessly targeting civilians, rather than Hamas.
How could CBS claim to have known the precise number of victims — it says 31 — without having relied on the only possible source, Hamas? And is there any reason why CBS News should trust stories put out by Hamas? And who said there were “many kids” among the dead — again, the only source is Hamas? As for what CBS News describes as a “Gaza school,” it had a duty to explain to its viewers that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of school buildings in Gaza that Hamas has taken over to hide both its operative sand its weapons, and that the Israelis “struck a Gaza school building where it says Hamas was hiding.” The IDF does not engage in senseless violence. It would not deliberately hit a school that was being used as a school; it has discovered one school building after another that was being used as a Hamas outpost. How might CBS have covered this story? This way: “Hamas today claimed that the IDF hit a school building and killed 31 people including, Hamas says, ‘many kids.’ Israel claims it hit Hamas fighters and further says that Hamas has many times in the past used school buildings to hide both weapons and combatants. It urges that we be skeptical of information coming from a terror group.”
According to CBS, the death toll was sourced from the “Civil Defense rescue agency in Gaza,” which in turn cited medical records from Al-Ahli Hospital — the same hospital that, just days after CBS published its report, was revealed to contain a Hamas operations center inside the facility. That’s right: inside the hospital. Just to give you an idea of the reliability of the sources CBS deems fit to cite….
Even after its slanted first report came out, CBS had a duty to correct its story. It should have noted that the “Civil Defense Rescue Agency” in Gaza answers to Hamas, and it relied on information about casualties from Al-Ahli Hospital. We know now that just here a few days after our report, the IDF discovered a Hamas operations center inside the hospital. That casts doubt on the reliability of the figures cited.
Just a few simple rules for CBS, and the rest of the media, to follow: don’t quote verbatim from Hamas PR handouts. Don’t quote any figures on victims without clearly citing that they come straight from Hamas. Don’t claim that those who were killed were “mostly women and children” or “mainly kids” or “all kids,” without clearly noting that is all “according to Hamas.” Don’t call a school building used by Hamas a “school.” Explain what “schools” are used for in Gaza. Don’t use Hamas’ terminology and call those killed by the IDF “martyrs.” Don’t just silently drop that word if you carelessly used it, but explain to viewers how such a gross error was made, and apologize for the mistake.
CBS News has been sinking fast in the ratings. It has lost a quarter of its viewers since Norah O’Donnell was replaced by John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois at the end of January. Could that collapse have anything to do with how it has been channeling Hamas in its reports on the Gaza war?
