The New York Times is facing a firestorm of criticism after one of its photographers was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for a now-discredited image that was apparently deliberately staged to falsely portray widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian photographer Saher Alghorra won the 2026 Pulitzer for Breaking News Photography last week for his series documenting the impact of the Israeli-Gaza conflict on Palestinian civilians. The committee wrote that it was awarding him the honor “for his haunting, sensitive series showing the devastation and starvation in Gaza resulting from the war with Israel.”
But the most famous image in the series — a front-page photo of an emaciated child that the Times initially claimed was “born healthy” before succumbing to malnutrition — has been revealed to be a brazenly misleading piece of propaganda. In fact, the child had cerebral palsy from birth, a fact that forced the paper to quietly issue a correction last year after a public outcry.
Despite the retraction, the Pulitzer committee went ahead with honoring Alghorra anyway, a decision that has sparked outrage from Israeli officials, U.S. lawmakers and media watchdogs who accuse the Times of enabling Hamas’ anti-Israel disinformation campaign.
“One of the oldest lies in human history, that Jews deliberately harm children, is award-winning journalism,” Israeli Consul General to Toronto Idit Shamir wrote on X.
“When so-called journalism receives an award for spreading fake news about Israel, it tells you everything you need to know about where the mainstream media currently is,” Sen. Rick Scott posted on X.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
