NBC News Reporter Covering 'Disinformation, Extremism and the Internet' Hit the #Journalism Trifecta

Doug P. | 2:07 PM on October 18, 2023

After many media outlets, including the New York Times, helped spark anti-Israel protests around the world by reporting that an Israeli rocket or bomb struck a hospital in Gaza and killed several hundred people, the truth then started to come out.

The U.S. government has concluded that a rocket fired from inside Gaza hit near a hospital, and it's entirely possible the originally reported death count was wildly exaggerated:

NBC News: The U.S. has an independent assessment that it was Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired and hit the hospital in Gaza, according to two senior U.S. officials.

Reported by @ckubeNBC
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 18, 2023

But much of the media, along with Democrats like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ilhan Omar and others, had the talking point they were after and ran with it.

One reporter who shared the story in a non-skeptical fashion was NBC News' Ben Collins. For bonus "journalism" points he is that network's disinformation, extremism and internet reporter:

Imagine being a reporter who “covers disinformation, extremism, and the internet” who got fooled by

1) disinformation

2) from extremists

3) on the internet pic.twitter.com/yZalUTVq3Z
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) October 18, 2023

The reporter who covers disinformation, extremism and the internet hit the "journalism" trifecta!

So yesterday, @oneunderscore__ retweeted a post lamenting how hard it is to tell what's real from fake on this site, while also pushing the idea that 500 people were killed in a hospital bombing. Maybe one good way to determine if a story is valid is to ignore Ben Collins. pic.twitter.com/tbznydBvJP
— Philip Klein (@philipaklein) October 18, 2023