The Associated Press Thinks Jews In Mourning ‘Sit And Shiver’
Image by MicroStockHub
By Aiden Pink February 26, 2018
In an article about the aftermath of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, the Associated Press wrote that Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel had described visiting the families of the victims.
“I’ve been to their homes where they sit and shiver,” the AP quoted him as saying.
But what Israel actually said was “I’ve been to their homes where they’re sitting shiva.”
The AP issued a correction four days later.
This is quite a correction pic.twitter.com/TnFZmbCIQV
— Jon Steingart (@jonsteingart) February 26, 2018
This is not the first time that the secular media has gotten confused about the concept of sitting shiva, a seven-day mourning period. In 2015, The New York Times had to issue a correction after confusing a shiva call with sitting shiva itself. The Times also had to correct another part of the article: “Also, an earlier version of this article and its accompanying headline incorrectly compared JSwipe users to yentas. Yentas are busybodies, not matchmakers.”
Of course, no news organization is immune from errors — not even the Forward. This correction, from a 2013 article, is probably best read without context: “The Forward previously reported that [former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael] Oren reached for the ham, which misrepresented what Leibovich wrote in his book. Leibovich’s account never insinuated that Oren ate the ham. The Forward regrets the error.”
Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
