[Peace-discuss] Urge NYT Public Editor to Probe Times Coverage of Syria Chemical Arms Claim

Mon May 20 17:33:19 UTC 2013

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Just Foreign Policy <info at justforeignpolicy.org>
Date: Mon, May 20, 2013 at 11:43 AM
Subject: Urge NYT Public Editor to Probe Times Coverage of Syria Chemical
Arms Claim
To: naiman.uiuc at gmail.com

 [image: Just Foreign
Policy]<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justforeignpolicy.org>

Dear Supporter,

*Tell the New York Times Public Editor to investigate Times reporting on
Syria chemical arms claims.
*
Take Action<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justforeignpolicy.org%2Fact%2Fsyria-nyt>

 We learned in the run-up to the Iraq war that the *New York Times* has
tremendous power to establish "truth" in the United States—and when the *
Times* wields that power irresponsibly, the results can be catastrophic.

*Last week, the media watchdog Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting documented
a lack of skepticism in New York Times reporting of allegations of Syrian
government use of chemical weapons.* [1] *Times* reporting suggested that
the U.S. government had strong evidence that Syria had used chemical
weapons. But, as FAIR documented, the U.S. government was not nearly as
certain as claimed by the *Times*' initial reports. At the same time that
the *Times* was uncritically reporting these claims, other media were
appropriately skeptical.

*Urge Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times Public Editor, to examine
whether the Times showed appropriate skepticism in its reporting of Western
government claims about the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical
weapons.*

*http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/syria-nyt<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justforeignpolicy.org%2Fact%2Fsyria-nyt>
*

On April 18, the *Times* reported [2] that, according to unnamed diplomats,
the UK and France had sent letters to the UN about *"credible
evidence"*Syria had used chemical weapons. On April 23, the
*Times* reported [3] that Israel had *"evidence that the Syrian government
repeatedly used chemical weapons last month."* In its print edition April
25, the *Times *reported [4] that the White House *"shares the suspicions
of several of its allies that the Syrian government has used chemical
weapons."* That same day, with headline *"White House Says Syria Has Used
Chemical Arms,"* the *Times* then reported [5]:

The White House, in a letter to congressional leaders, said the nation's
intelligence agencies assessed ''with varying degrees of confidence'' that
the government of President Bashar al-Assad had used the chemical agent
sarin on a small scale.

The article cited Sen. Dianne Feinstein as saying *"agencies actually
expressed more certainty about the use of these weapons than the White
House indicated in its letter."*

On April 26, a *Times* report [6] warned against delaying action to be sure
that the claims that Syria had used chemical weapons were true:

If the president waits for courtroom levels of proof, what has been a few
dozen deaths from chemical weapons--in a war that has claimed more than
70,000 lives--could multiply.

In subsequent reporting, the *Times* referred to allegations that Syria had
used chemical weapons in ways that suggested that strong evidence existed
to back up U.S. government claims. On April 27, the *Times* referred to [7]
*"growing evidence that Syrian officials have used chemical weapons"*; on
April 28, the *Times* referred [8] to *"revelations last week that the
Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, is believed to have used chemical
weapons against his own people."*

On May 5, the *Times* claimed [9] that President Obama's *"credibility"*was
*"at stake"* due to his failure to respond to *"evidence that chemical
weapons have been used in Syria."*

But the next day, the BBC reported that [10] Carla Del Ponte, a senior
investigator on a UN team investigating human rights abuses in the Syrian
civil war, claimed that the UN had collected evidence that chemical weapons
had been used in Syria *by the rebels, not by the government*, and the
official story that allegations of the use of chemical weapons by the
Syrian government were known fact began to unravel.

Outside the *New York Times*, FAIR noted, skepticism about the evidence
pointing to Syrian use of chemical began much earlier. On April 26,
Jonathan Landay of McClatchy reported that [11] a source characterized U.S.
intelligence on alleged chemical weapons use as *"tiny little data
points"*that were of
*"low to moderate"* confidence. On May 6, McClatchy noted that: [12]

no concrete proof has emerged, and some headline-grabbing claims have been
discredited or contested. Officials worldwide now admit that no allegations
rise to the level of certainty.... Existing evidence casts more doubt on
claims of chemical weapons use than it does to help build a case that one
or both sides of the conflict have employed them.

Examining this documented trail of credulous *New York Times* reporting of
government claims that could serve as a justification for war should be a
top priority for the *Times* Public Editor. *Urge Ms. Sullivan to
investigate.*

*http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/syria-nyt<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.justforeignpolicy.org%2Fact%2Fsyria-nyt>
*

Thank you for all you do to help bring about a more just foreign policy,

Robert Naiman, Chelsea Mozen, Sarah Burns and Megan Iorio
Just Foreign Policy

*Help fund our work—donate to Just Foreign Policy!* With our small staff
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References:

1. "Iraq Then, Syria Now? New York Times, sarin and skepticism," FAIR
Action Alert, May 15, 2013,
http://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/iraq-then-syria-now/<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=6&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffair.org%2Ftake-action%2Faction-alerts%2Firaq-then-syria-now%2F>
2. "Syria Faces New Claim on Chemical Arms," Rick Gladstone and Eric
Schmitt, New York Times, April 18, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/world/middleeast/Syria.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F19%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2FSyria.html>
3. "Israel Says It Has Proof That Syria Has Used Chemical Weapons," David
E. Sanger and Jodi Rudoren, New York Times, April 23, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/world/middleeast/israel-says-syria-has-used-chemical-weapons.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=8&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F24%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fisrael-says-syria-has-used-chemical-weapons.html>
4. "U.S. Sees No Conclusive Evidence of Chemical Arms Use by Syria," Mark
Landler, New York Times, April 25, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/middleeast/us-sees-no-conclusive-evidence-of-chemical-arms-use-by-syria.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=9&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F25%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fus-sees-no-conclusive-evidence-of-chemical-arms-use-by-syria.html>
5. "White House Says It Believes Syria Has Used Chemical Arms," Mark
Landler and Eric Schmitt, New York Times, April 25, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/world/middleeast/us-says-it-suspects-assad-used-chemical-weapons.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=10&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F26%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fus-says-it-suspects-assad-used-chemical-weapons.html>
6. "Israel Sees U.S. Response to Syria as Gauge on Iran," David E. Sanger
and Jodi Rudoren, New York Times, April 26, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/world/middleeast/israel-sees-obamas-response-on-syria-as-gauge-for-iran.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=11&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F27%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fisrael-sees-obamas-response-on-syria-as-gauge-for-iran.html>
7. "Islamist Rebels Create Dilemma on Syria Policy," Ben Hubbard, New York
Times, April 27, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/world/middleeast/islamist-rebels-gains-in-syria-create-dilemma-for-us.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=12&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F28%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fislamist-rebels-gains-in-syria-create-dilemma-for-us.html>
8. "Lawmakers Call for Stronger U.S. Action in Syria," Sheryl Gay Stolberg,
New York Times, April 28, 2013,
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/lawmakers-call-for-stronger-u-s-action-in-syria/<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=13&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F04%2F28%2Flawmakers-call-for-stronger-u-s-action-in-syria%2F>
9. "Off-the-Cuff Obama Line Put U.S. in Bind on Syria," Peter Baker, Mark
Landler, David E. Sanger and Anne Barnard, New York Times, May 5, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/05/world/middleeast/obamas-vow-on-chemical-weapons-puts-him-in-tough-spot.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=14&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2013%2F05%2F05%2Fworld%2Fmiddleeast%2Fobamas-vow-on-chemical-weapons-puts-him-in-tough-spot.html>
10. "UN's Del Ponte says evidence Syria rebels 'used sarin'," BBC, May 6,
2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22424188<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=15&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-middle-east-22424188>
11. "As reports of chemical weapons abound, Obama urges caution on Syria,"
Jonathan Landay, McClatchy, April 26, 2013,
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/04/26/189773/as-reports-of-chemical-weapons.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=16&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mcclatchydc.com%2F2013%2F04%2F26%2F189773%2Fas-reports-of-chemical-weapons.html>
12. "Despite political clamor over Obama’s ‘red line’ in Syria, no clear
evidence it’s been crossed," Hannah Allam, Matthew Schofield and Jonathan
S. Landay, McClatchy, May 6, 2013,
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/06/190516/despite-political-clamor-over.html<http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?key=-1&url_num=17&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mcclatchydc.com%2F2013%2F05%2F06%2F190516%2Fdespite-political-clamor-over.html>

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