One problem with biased journalism is that it produces weak reporting. Another is that it can lead to the dissemination of outright falsehoods, even honest-to-God terrorist propaganda.

On Mar. 6, the global newswire Reuters fully retracted a report that had referred repeatedly to a victim of a Palestinian terrorist attack as a member of the Mossad, Israel’s top intelligence agency. The problem is there’s no evidence that the victim, Amatzia Ben-Haim, was ever in the Mossad, let alone an active agent at the time of his death.

Reuters, it turns out, relied entirely on the killer’s family for this supposed biographical detail, apparently making no effort to corroborate their version of events. When asked to explain how the original story was allowed to go to print despite serious and obvious flaws, the newswire replied to my inquiries with the same stock statement it had issued previously, that the story "is withdrawn" and that they "regret the error."

It is unclear why Reuters chose to rely solely on the claims of the killer's family that Ben-Haim was a Mossad agent, apparently without corroboration. It has made no effort to show its homework.

On Feb. 25, Reuters had published a tear-jerker of a story titled, “Gaza mother's hopes for return of long-jailed son dashed.” Its subhead read, “A 75-year-old mother Najat El Agha has searched the ruined streets of Gaza for some modest supplies to welcome him back.”

The report detailed how a mother in Gaza has had to wait “more than three decades” for the return of her son, Diaa El Agha, who had been sent to prison in Israel for murdering a Mossad agent in October 1992. The report mentioned only once, and very briefly, that Diaa........

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