More and more once-loyal readers of the New York Times are turning their backs on the paper after its latest slip up in a long string of negligent reporting. The once-prestigious paper is suffering major blowback after publishing an extensive correction for its 2018 podcast series “Caliphate” which relied on a “serial fabulist” who claimed to be a former member of ISIS who committed atrocities in Syria. The podcast went on to win the Peabody Award, which The Times has now returned.
New York Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet has admitted the blunder is a major failure for the once proud-paper calling it “an institutional failure.”
Fox News reports:
The 12-part series was “driven primarily by the confessional tale of a Canadian man of Pakistani origin who called himself Abu Huzayfah and claimed to have been a member of the Islamic State who had taken part in killings in Syria,” the Times wrote on Friday.
“During the course of reporting for the series, The Times discovered significant falsehoods and other discrepancies in Huzayfah’s story … As a result, The Times has concluded that the episodes of “Caliphate” that presented Mr. Chaudhry’s claims did not meet our standards for accuracy.”
Chaudhry, 26, claimed to reporter Rukmini Callimachi he traveled to Syria and committed numerous atrocities on behalf of ISIS as well as engaged in secret discussions of terrorist attacks against the West on the scale of 9/11.
However, he was arrested by Canadian authorities in September for perpetrating a terror hoax after an investigation revealed his tales were fictional. Intelligence officials reached the conclusion after an extensive probe into his travel, social media postings and statements to police, and they have cast doubt on whether he has ever even entered Syria, the Times reported.
The internal investigation has lead to the lead reporter of the project to be reassigned to a new beat.
This is only the latest in a series of blunders from The Times. The controversial 1619 Project and the op-ed penned by Republican Senator Tom Cotton titled “Send in the Troops” brought on massive waves of backlash. The op-ed by Senator Cotton was published at the height of nationwide protests following the death of George Floyd even caused massive internal chaos within The Times. Shortly after, the then-editorial page editor James Bennet abruptly left the paper followed by editor Bari Weiss who in her resignation letter said she was bullied by colleagues in an “illiberal environment” weeks after declaring there was a “civil war” inside the paper.
The New York Times credibility has been circling the drain for some time after countless reports regarding the Russia hoax sought to disparage President Trump. The paper has regularly been accused of bias towards Trump and Republicans especially amid the blatant cover of the Hunter Biden and Eric Swalwell scandals. [Keep Reading: The New York Times Ignores Eric Swalwell Scandal]
