|
Washington
Times tarnished by deceit and bias
Al-Awda
-- June 7, 2002 -- The Washington Times (circulation 100,000)
has been dodging responsibility for severe breach of journalistic
integrity and ethics of one its reporters, Paul Martin. The
paper's reputation is being tarnished by the refusal to fully
admit and come clean on Mr. Martin's writing of reports under
a fake reporter's name (Sayed Anwar), fake dateline (Bethlehem),
dodgy facts, and, most egregious of all, for purporting to be
an Arab "spilling the beans" on his own people.
The Facts:
Reporter
Paul Martin, based in London not only has been notorious for
presenting a biased view of the situation in Israel/Palestine
but has really stepped over the line by creating a fictional
name called Sayed Anwar as a reporter for the Washington Times.
The fictional Mr. "Anwar" (i.e. Paul Martin) published pieces
of propaganda masquerading as an Arab telling of horrible Palestinian
attacks in Bethlehem. Examples of these reports are found at:
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020513-2162940.htm
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020523-702805.htm
The Washington
Times later admitted the fictional nature of this character
to Howard Kurtz who wrote about it in a Washington Post Column
May 26. However, Mr. Kurtz appeared to accept the WT explanation
(which was never published in the Washington Times). Kurtz's
article is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14749-2002May26.html
However,
when a representative of Al-Awda media called the Washington
Times offices on June 5th, an assistant to Mr. David Jones (Foreign
Desk editor) stated that letters could be forwarded to Mr. Anwar
through their office. Later and in direct correspondence with
Mr. Jones, he stated that there was fear of the reporter being
subjected to dangers and hence the pseudonym. He indicated that
he was not in charge at the time this transpired. He stated
that, had he been involved, he would have insisted on published
reports spelling out the use of a pseudonym and he would not
have accepted the use of an Arabic pseudonym rather than an
Anglo one. But the facts are:
1) We were
informed that the acting foreign editor of the WT admitted that
at least one story was written after Martin left the Middle
East and was stationed in London. Thus, the use of the excuse
of danger to Martin's life would not be tenable. Further, many
reporters regularly report biased and highly damaging stories
regarding Palestinians and none were ever targeted by Palestinian
militants. By contrast, journalist associations and human rights
organizations have reported targeting of Journalists by Israeli
forces (e.g. http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/2001/israel03262001.html
) Even the report by the US State Department on Israel acknowledged
the IDF shooting at journalists: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/nea/8262.htm
2) To this
date, there has not been a Washington Times published acknowledgment
of this deceit or an apology to the readers not only for not
stating that a WT reporter was writing under a pseudonym but
also, and more significantly, for using an Arab name on reports
written by Paul Martin.
3) Mr.
Paul Martin was writing his material (both under his name and
under the pseudonym) in close communication with the Israeli
settler propagandist David Bedein of http://www.israelbehindthenews.com.
The latter web page prominently displays the Washington Times
articles (but it states that Sayed Nawal is a psudonym). This
further diminishes the Washington Times credibility.
Talking
points:
The pattern
of deceit and dodging the facts to tell a story is bad enough.
Doing it under an Arabic name is unforgivable. The Washington
Times should institute disciplinary action against this reporter
including at least reassignment to cover other parts of the
world. Further, the Times should write a full article explaining
the disciplinary action taken and correcting the record for
its readers. This should be accompanied by an apology to people
of Arab descent.
Action
Requested:
1) Write
respectful letter to the editor for publication in the Washington
Times letters@washingtontimes.com
cc your
letters to
ssweet@washingtontimes.com
djones@washingtontimes.com
2) Send
copies of this alert and write letters to all other media outlets
covering the Middle East situation. This is a good example of
why coverage tends to be so biased in the United States as compared
to other parts of the world.
http://al-awda.org
|
