New York Times Double Standards

Here is an interesting letter from FAIR that asks pertinent questions of NYT's ambivalent journalistic policies that mass media students and others might find interesting - t


A double standard on reporters who express opinions?
Letter to NY Times' public editor Clark Hoyt

On February 12, FAIR sent a letter to the New York Times' public editor Clark Hoyt regarding a recent editors' note that suggested that the newspaper has double standards for reporters who publicly express opinions. The letter is below. We encourage others who have concerns to also contact Hoyt, at: public@nytimes.com.

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Dear Clark Hoyt,

The New York Times recently published an unusual editor's note about the February 4 front-page article, “Time Runs Out for an Afghan Held by the U.S.”

The note concerned Andy Worthington, one of the two journalists identified in the article's byline:

Mr. Worthington has written a book, The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison, in which he takes the position that Guantánamo is part of what he describes as a cruel and misguided response by the Bush administration to the September 11 attacks. He has also expressed strong criticism of Guantánamo in articles published elsewhere.

The editors were not aware of Mr. Worthington’s outspoken position on Guantánamo. They should have described his contribution to the reporting instead of listing him as co-author, and noted that he had a point of view.

There is no indication that Worthington's reporting was flawed in any way. What the paper is saying is that Worthington's critical view of Guantánamo disqualifies him from having a byline on a Times article on the subject, and must be noted whenever he contributes to such a story.

Is this rule applied to all Times reporters covering any subject? It would seem not. The Times' response to its chief military correspondent Michael Gordon expressing a point of view on national TV on the very topic he covers as a reporter provides an instructive comparison.

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