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Why Did a Group of U.S. Journalism Professors Attack the New York Times' Story on Hamas Sexual Violence?
Why Did a Group of U.S. Journalism Professors Attack the New York Times' Story on Hamas Sexual Violence?
It was highly unusual for 59 journalism and communications professors to collectively challenge the reporting in a single news story. That of all Gaza war stories, only the NYT's investigation of Hamas rapes raised their ire – to the extent they contended it endangered journalists and may have helped precipitate 'genocide' – raises questions about their motivation
Journalism and communication professors at several major U.S. universities took an unusual step recently, challenging the reporting in a single news story—The New York Times front-page investigative piece describing the sexual violence committed on October 7. Of the thousands of stories that have been published about the Gaza War—let alone the universe of all recent news stories—what made "`Screams Without Words'" worthy of the professoriate's equivalent of the nuclear option?
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Along with raw speculation, missing logic, and over-the-top belief in a single New York Times story's ability to inflame the Israelis or dissuade the international community from taking tougher action, another issue hovers: Just what do these professors think The Times published that was so wrong and so potent that it helped precipitate "genocide"? So what did The Times get wrong in "`Screams Without Words'?" That it said sexual violence took place when it didn't? The letter signers can't possibly mean that especially after the United Nations reported "reasonable grounds to believe" that it had.
snip--------------------------------------
I'm all for criticizing news organizations, including The Times (in fact I wrote an entire book doing just that), and I would encourage professors and news outlets to continue examining "`Screams Without Words'.'' As the letter points out, the absence of public editors to respond to complaints at The Times (and elsewhere) has left a serious accountability gap.
But not every consequential story deserves an independent investigation. In this case, the gist of the story has held up; no clear evidence of journalistic wrongdoing has emerged, and The Times has exhibited some willingness to respond to criticisms. The professors calling for an investigation therefore seem more interested in joining an ongoing propaganda war, than in righting a journalistic wrong. That's no place for a journalism professor to be.
It was highly unusual for 59 journalism and communications professors to collectively challenge the reporting in a single news story. That of all Gaza war stories, only the NYT's investigation of Hamas rapes raised their ire – to the extent they contended it endangered journalists and may have helped precipitate 'genocide' – raises questions about their motivation
Journalism and communication professors at several major U.S. universities took an unusual step recently, challenging the reporting in a single news story—The New York Times front-page investigative piece describing the sexual violence committed on October 7. Of the thousands of stories that have been published about the Gaza War—let alone the universe of all recent news stories—what made "`Screams Without Words'" worthy of the professoriate's equivalent of the nuclear option?
snip--------------------------------------
Along with raw speculation, missing logic, and over-the-top belief in a single New York Times story's ability to inflame the Israelis or dissuade the international community from taking tougher action, another issue hovers: Just what do these professors think The Times published that was so wrong and so potent that it helped precipitate "genocide"? So what did The Times get wrong in "`Screams Without Words'?" That it said sexual violence took place when it didn't? The letter signers can't possibly mean that especially after the United Nations reported "reasonable grounds to believe" that it had.
snip--------------------------------------
I'm all for criticizing news organizations, including The Times (in fact I wrote an entire book doing just that), and I would encourage professors and news outlets to continue examining "`Screams Without Words'.'' As the letter points out, the absence of public editors to respond to complaints at The Times (and elsewhere) has left a serious accountability gap.
But not every consequential story deserves an independent investigation. In this case, the gist of the story has held up; no clear evidence of journalistic wrongdoing has emerged, and The Times has exhibited some willingness to respond to criticisms. The professors calling for an investigation therefore seem more interested in joining an ongoing propaganda war, than in righting a journalistic wrong. That's no place for a journalism professor to be.
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-05-08/ty-article-opinion/.premium/why-did-u-s-journalism-professors-attack-nyt-story-on-hamas-sexual-violence/0000018f-57a9-d6a5-a5ff-d7a9ec320000
No paywall
https://archive.ph/LqFtg
1 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
The NYT has become a source of TFG/Putin propaganda
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