In the very same vein of not just bad journalism about rape and sexual violence but demonstrably FALSE journalism about rape and sexual violence as weapons of war, there was important news about reporting in Gaza since the October attacks by Hamas on Israel.

The New York Times published a story on 12/28/2023 with results of its investigation into allegations of systemic rape in the course of the Hamas attack on Israel in October.

nytimes.com - Oct attacks hamas israel sexual violence

Prior reports from October and November from the NYT and other outlets had cited extensive evidence provided by the Israeli army of the allegations. This 12/28 report eliminated any reference to that evidence but nonetheless stated that the charges were supported by multiple eyewitness accounts.

A story published by The Intercept shredded the integrity of the entire NYT piece.

theintercept.com - New york times anat schwartz october

A partial list of items documented by the piece in The Intercept:

* the eyewitness to the rape of the girl at the outdoor concert explicitly said the men involved were CIVILIANS attending the concert, not Hamas actors who swept in during the attack
* the family of one girl cited as being raped in an October 7 story explicitly DENIED she could have been raped between the four minutes of hearing the initial attack and receiving a tweet she had been killed
* the NYT story was viewed with such suspicion internally that its own internal team that recycles NYT stories into podcast content refused to use the story
* while the lead writer of the original story, Jeffrey Gettleman, is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, co-author Anat Schwartz had no background in reporting whatsoever
* Anat Schwartz was hardly unbiased, she had recently commented on social media that the Gaza strip should be turned into a slaughterhouse
* Anat Schwartz herself confirmed in an interview in January she had been unable to find a SINGLE report of any rape at any hospital, women's clinics, rape crisis centers, etc. - she then reverted to eyewitness accounts
* none of the eyewitness accounts she subsequently used could be independently verified
* the third "journalist" assisting with the piece, Adam Sella, primarily writes free lance stories on food - he's also the nephew of Anat Schwartz's partner
* as the NYT article was being crafted, its editor was jousting with its standards department to relax prior guidance that Hamas be referred to as the governing body in Gaza rather than a terrorist organization - this was viewed as an effort by the NYT to avoid being viewed as wishy washy on Israel

Rebecca Watson posted a good overview of this story of journalism as propaganda on YouTube that I highly recommend:

YouTube: Feminists vs Israeli Disinformation: the New York Times' False Rape Narrative (Rebecca Watson (Skepchick))

It's worth it just for how she closes her commentary. If you have lost faith in the New York Times, fear not. They have launched a full investigation... to find out which staffers leaked the newsroom debates to the Intercept...

WTH