ABC stands its ground over child starvation picture, while other news outlets admit failings

Global media outlets are backtracking on their coverage of a malnourished Gaza child's viral photo, but ABC's Media Watch maintains its position.

On Monday night’s Media Watch episode, presenter Linton Besser said the image of Muhammad had 'stopped the world'. Pictures: Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini/Anadolu via Getty Images/ ABC

The ABC’s Media Watch program has defended its analysis of the widely circulated image of an emaciated Palestinian boy, despite other news outlets in Australia and overseas admitting that their use of the shocking photo lacked “context”.

Last week, numerous mastheads including The New York Times, The Guardian, The Daily Express, Le Monde, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, as well as the ABC, published an image of 18-month-old Gazan boy Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, who they reported was suffering from severe malnutrition.

On Monday night’s Media Watch episode, presenter Linton Besser said the image of Muhammad had “stopped the world”.

“There can be little cavilling however that children in Gaza are facing hunger – the disabled and vulnerable among them hardest hit,” Besser said.

“Powerful evidence emerging in the past week courtesy of Palestinian journalists.

“But it was the images of one child which stopped the world.

“These photographs of 18-month-old Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq whose emaciated body is being denied the baby formula it needs.”

But several hours earlier, London-based independent journalist David Collier published a report on his own website in which he cited evidence that in May this year Muhammad had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and other conditions.

Despite being aware of Collier’s report before Media Watch went to air, the program made no reference to it – instead observing that Muhammad’s skeletal frame was “powerful evidence” that children in Gaza are facing ­hunger.

Collier told The Australian on Wednesday there was evidence that “some people in some areas are going hungry” in Gaza.

“But it is the basic role of a journalist to verify and check the facts before he writes a story, so the question is, is the image an honest image or a dishonest one?” he said.

Collier told The Australian he “felt sick” when he first saw the photo of Muhammad but quickly grew suspicious about the way it was used to illustrate hunger problems in Gaza. He said Muhammad’s mother appeared healthy, as did the boy’s older brother who was seen in other photos.

Collier subsequently obtained photos of Muhammad’s medical history, which stated the boy had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and hypoxaemia (low oxygen in the blood), possibly linked to a suspected genetic disorder ­inherited in an “autosomal recessive pattern”.

Collier alleged Muhammad’s suffering had been “hijacked and weaponised”, and took aim at ­global media outlets, “almost all” of which he accused of “functioning as Hamas’s useful idiots, amplifying propaganda with no effort to verify the facts”.

In the wake of Collier’s revelations, The New York Times admitted an error in publishing the image of Muhammad which ran on the newspaper’s front page next to the headline: “Young, old and sick starve to death in Gaza”.

The front page of The New York Times.

The Sydney Morning Herald front page from July 25.

In a post on X, The New York Times said it had added an editors’ note to its story after learning “after publication … that (Muhammad) also had pre-existing health problems”.

“We have since learned new information, including from the hospital that treated him and his medical records, and have updated our story to add context about his pre-existing health problems,” it said in its statement.

“This additional detail gives readers a greater understanding of his situation.”

We have appended an Editors' Note to a story about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza who was diagnosed with severe malnutrition. After publication, The Times learned that he also had pre-existing health problems. Read more below. pic.twitter.com/KGxP3b3Q2B

— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) July 29, 2025

On Wednesday, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age also updated their online news reports featuring the picture of Muhammad to accurately “reflect the new information which has come to light”.

“After initial publication of the article, it was later reported that Muhammad’s doctor had confirmed he had pre-existing health problems, as well as severe malnutrition,” the update in Nine’s online mastheads reads.

But the ABC has made no concession that its news reports featuring the photo of Muhammad, and Media Watch’s analysis of the image, lacked context. Instead, the online transcript of Monday night’s Media Watch episode was amended on Wednesday night to only include reference to the clarification issued by The New York Times.

The ABC made no mention of the fact that at the time Media Watch went to air at 9.15pm (AEST) on Monday, Besser and the show’s producers were already aware of the claims made by Collier about Muhammad’s medical history, but chose not to mention them.

In response to questions from The Australian, Media Watch executive producer Mario Christodoulou said the program sought to verify the medical condition of Muhammad by showing the photograph of the toddler to a Sydney-based academic and asking her to provide a “professional opinion”.

“Not being in a position to verify Collier’s reporting, we contacted an authority on the subject of cerebral palsy, University of Sydney Professor Iona Novak, to garner as best an independent and professional opinion as possible in the time frame,” Christodoulou said.

“That opinion assured us that the ‘photographs appear to show a child with physical signs consistent with malnutrition’ as well as a potential ‘neurological condition’.

“In light of this, we were very careful to make plain that it was ‘the disabled and vulnerable … hardest hit’, as we introduced the photograph of al-Matouq.”