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NYT Public Editor Comes Down On Paper For 'Flawed' Gitmo Story

New York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt has written a dissection of the paper's front-page story on Guantanamo "recidivism," concluding the May 21 piece was "seriously flawed and greatly overplayed."

The story, which originally ran under the headline "1 In 7 Detainees Rejoined Jihad, Pentagon Finds," was the subject of an "editors' note" Friday walking back several of its claims.

Hoyt writes today: the story "demonstrated again the dangers when editors run with exclusive leaked material in politically charged circumstances and fail to push back skeptically."

He adds the errors in the Gitmo story -- which has been cited by Dick Cheney -- are "especially unfortunate" in light of the Times pre-Iraq war reporting record.

Times DC Bureau Chief Dean Baquet rejected any argument that the two episodes were of equal significance in an interview with TPMmuckraker last week, calling such a comparison "ludicrous."

We learn a few new facts from Hoyt about the tick-tock of the Times' editing and reporting process. For example, Executive Editor Bill Keller ordered the alterations to the online version of the story, removing the prominent use of the "returned" phrasing, after a colleague disputed that language.

And the reporter, Elisabeth Bumiller, only got a temporary look at the study (which we've posted here), and she didn't think the distinction between suspected and confirmed cases of "recidivism" among Gitmo detainees was a "big issue." That accounted for the difference between a rate of 5% (confirmed) and a rate of 14% (the two categories combined).

Finally, there's this choice detail dug up by Hoyt, which gives a sense of just how flimsy these DOD reports can be:

In 2007, three men were listed because they participated in an anti-Guantánamo film. ... Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said the reports represent the best information the government has at the time and that it changes. He said that just appearing in a film would no longer be considered a return to the battlefield.

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"Push back skeptically," what universe is this guy from? I thought journalists merely passed on press releases.

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No No Chris. This was published by the New York Stenographers Corps. Stenographers are rated by how accurately they state exactly what their bosses tell them to write.

This is a much more demanding job than accepting and passing on press releases. For this job you have to have a college degree and experience on other newspapers. And you have to be able to write in English.

This is challenging. Anyone can take a PR handout and forward it to someone who can read. That just requires a warm body - not even someone from a Communications School. A trained and obedient ape can to the handout pass off.

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The "This" that begins the above third paragraph should be changed to "That".

I haven't attended a Communications School, either. (But I can edit.)

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Elisabeth Bumiller has always been Judy Kneepads Lite.

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I concur with Dave about Ms Bumiller. When she covered the Bush White House, her articles were alwayts laudatory and souded like they had been written by Karl.

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I think it's great that someone at the NYT has FINALLY (almost 3 weeks later) come to a sensible if not perfect public position on this matter.

Good for you, all those who pressured them to take second and third looks at it. Maybe next time they can make corrections a lot sooner. The problem with corrections is that news is non-linear, the first impressions stick even after a correction or clarification is made. And the longer between first and correction, the fewer even see the correction.

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No one should even be talking about something like this after the illegal wiretapping story fiasco - it should not be happening.

NYT will never learn, I guess.

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