Again, Leila Molana-Allen, incitement, not reporting (10.17.25)

Biased Reporting on PBS Newshour: Sensationalism Over Substance in Leila Molana-Allen's Gaza Coverage

October 17, 2025 – PBS Newshour Segment Critique

In yet another display of one-sided journalism that prioritizes emotional manipulation over factual context, PBS Newshour correspondent Leila Molana-Allen delivered a segment on Gaza that reeks of Al Jazeera-style incitement rather than objective reporting. Fresh off a brief internship at Al Jazeera back in 2011, Molana-Allen seems to have absorbed the network's notorious playbook for framing Israel as the aggressor while whitewashing the terrorist regime in Gaza.^[12] Her eagerness to bombard viewers with graphic images of injured children—repeating one particularly gruesome photo of exposed bones no fewer than three times—serves not to inform, but to inflame anti-Israel sentiment. This isn't journalism; it's propaganda designed to evoke knee-jerk outrage, conveniently omitting the brutal reality that Hamas deliberately embeds its military operations in civilian areas, using schools, hospitals, and homes as shields for rocket launchers and tunnels.^[8]

Throughout the piece, Molana-Allen hammered the phrase "Israeli bombardment" like a drumbeat of condemnation, evoking images of indiscriminate destruction. But where was the mention of why these strikes occur? Not a single word about Hamas's calculated strategy of mingling fighters among innocents, firing thousands of rockets from densely populated neighborhoods, or the October 7, 2023, massacre that slaughtered 1,200 Israelis and took over 250 hostages—many still suffering in captivity today. For basic decency, she owed viewers the context: Israel's operations target Hamas infrastructure precisely because the terror group turns Gaza's civilians into unwitting human shields, a tactic repeatedly documented by the IDF and international observers.^[8b] By ignoring this, Molana-Allen doesn't just slant the story; she actively misleads, perpetuating the false narrative that Israel wages war on children rather than on a genocidal terrorist organization sworn to its destruction.

Compounding the bias, co-anchor Joeff Bennett parroted casualty figures from Gaza's so-called "health officials" without a hint of scrutiny or disclosure. These aren't neutral bureaucrats—they're mouthpieces for the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, a direct arm of the terrorist government that seized power in 2007 and has a vested interest in inflating civilian deaths to demonize Israel on the world stage.^[27] Independent analyses have exposed how these numbers are manipulated: Hamas quietly removes thousands of entries when discrepancies arise, fails to distinguish combatants from civilians (potentially hiding up to 17,000 terrorist deaths in the total), and relies on unverifiable Google Docs submissions that anyone can tamper with.^[32][30] Even as some outlets defend the ministry's past reliability in smaller conflicts, the unprecedented scale of this war—fueled by Hamas's all-out assault on Israel—has rendered their data suspect at best, fabricated at worst.^[29] Bennett's failure to note this "under whose control?" dynamic isn't an oversight; it's complicity in laundering Hamas propaganda as fact. In fact, the word "Hamas" does not even appear im the entire transcript.

PBS Newshour, once a beacon of balanced public broadcasting, is increasingly indulging in this kind of selective storytelling that erodes trust and fuels division.^[Heritage] especially under Amna Nawaz. True reporting would highlight Israel's extraordinary efforts to minimize civilian harm—warning calls, evacuation corridors, and precision strikes—amid a war it didn't start but must finish to protect its people.^[AP] Instead, Molana-Allen's segment and Bennett's unquestioning echo chamber dishonor the victims on both sides by distorting the truth. Viewers deserve better: context, accountability, and fairness, not recycled incitement dressed as news.

[12] JFeed on Hamas operative media cover and Al Jazeera ties.

[8] Israel National News on Hamas using children as human shields.

[8b] Israel National News on IDF Spokesperson on Hamas human shields in Gaza City.

[27] Israel National News on new study showing Gazan civilian death toll exaggerated.

[32] JFeed on Hamas official admits natural deaths included in Gaza's war toll.

[30] Israel National News on mortality in Gaza: lies and statistics.

[29] JFeed on Andrew Fox: How Hamas cooks the books on Palestinian casualties.

[Heritage] Israel National News on CAMERA: 'Let PBS Know Their Bias is Showing!'.

[AP] Israel National News on civilian deaths in Gaza: Relatively low.