The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) media watchdog group prompted an extensive New York Times editor’s note on Tuesday over the newspaper’s reporting on Palestinian home evictions in Jerusalem.
CAMERA had criticized a Jan. 14 article by reporter Diaa Hadid headlined “Evictions in Walled Old City Stir Up a ‘Hornet’s Nest,’” which detailed the legal dispute surrounding the eviction of the Maswadi, Hashimeh, and Sub Laban families in the Old City of Jerusalem, for only including interviews with the tenants themselves.
In an editor’s note published Tuesday and amended to the original article, the New York Times said the article “gave an incomplete description of the legal disputes in several cases.”
“The descriptions were based on the tenants’ accounts; the article should have included additional information from court documents or from the landlords,” the note said.
According to the editor’s note, in two of the evictions, the Maswadi and Hashimeh cases, court documents suggested that the tenants had not paid their rent, while in the other case, of Nora Sub Laban, the resident had not continuously lived in the apartment.
“While the reporter tried to reach representatives of the landlord in the Sub Laban case, The Times should also have tried to reach the landlords involved in the other cases and their lawyers,” the newspaper admitted.
“CAMERA commends Times editors for the comprehensive editor’s note which sets the record straight,” the media watchdog said in statement.
According to CAMERA, Hadid has a history of anti-Israel bias. She previously worked for Ittijah, an anti-Israel NGO.
JNS.ORG
{Matzav.com}
