MSNBC to Apologize Today for Misleading Maps
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MSNBC Anchors are expected to go on air Today and say they were sorry for trying to misled viewers by showing some maps of the Middle East that were factually wrong.
MSNBC now admits that highly controversial graphics aired on the network that depicted Israel as stealing land from the Palestinians were “factually wrong” and that the broadcast would be corrected Today.
MSNBC, who has been trying to change itself back into a real news network again, tried fighting off criticism after it aired the graphics and analysis, including a map linked to conspiracy groups branded as anti-Semitic, that portrayed Israel as existing on territory expropriated from Palestine.
The graphics garnered criticism from pro-Israel advocates and has now prompted the network to acknowledge that the graphics were highly misleading.
“In an attempt to shed light on the geographic context of the Israeli-Palestinian issue, we aired a map that was factually wrong,” the spokesperson said on Sunday.
Two MSNBC broadcasters, Kate Snow and Martin Fletcher, “will address the map in a segment Monday about agendas and disinformation on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the spokesperson said.
Fletcher, a Middle East analyst, said on Sunday that the map and analyses were “dead wrong.”
MSNBC broadcast images suggesting that Israel has stolen most of its land from the Palestinians since the Jewish state’s creation in 1948. The images promoted by the network have long been criticized by scholars and anti-Semitism watchdog groups as anti-Israel propaganda.
The maps closely resemble propaganda disseminated by anti-Israel organizations that support boycotts of the Jewish state and aim to portray it as stealing land once belonging to Palestine, a state that has never formally existed.
Fletcher condemned the map when reached by the Washington Free Beacon, saying that he regrets not pointing out the error at the time.
“The first of the four maps was dead wrong and should not have been included,” Fletcher said. “I wish I had pointed that out when I first saw it.”
