MOSHE PHILLIPS: INDISPUTABLE BIAS IN NYTIMES COVERAGE OF TERRORISM
How the New York Times Distorts Coverage of Terrorism
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/how-the-new-york-times-distorts-coverage-of-terrorism/
By Moshe Phillips | November 9, 2010
There is indisputable bias in the work of a reporter at The New York Times who has been trusted to cover terrorism-related stories for years.
In a story about the conviction of the four Bronx synagogue bomb plotters, reporter Kareem Fahim spent more time explaining the points of the failed legal defense of the terrorists than giving any details about who the terrorists were or why they may have wanted to bomb synagogues. The words Islam, Muslim and Mosque—all key parts of the plot—did not appear in the original article. The men are all Muslims and attended the same mosque in Orange County, New York.
The reporter who wrote the story is not some objective journalist who made a mistake. We can also be sure that the copy editors are not responsible for the content of the article. How can we be so positive? A quick review of Fahim’s history provides all the evidence needed.
Fahim attacked the Patriot Act and charged anti-terrorist agencies in the U.S. with “racial profiling” in an article titled “Profiles in Racism” in Amnesty International’s Amnesty Magazine in the Winter 2003 edition. In the Amnesty article Fahim drew an incomprehensible comparison between “driving while black” and post September 11th anti-terrorism security measures.
The October 18, 2010 article was first given the absurd title “Four Men Convicted in Plot to Bomb Synagogues,” as if the gender of the terrorists was the key factor for their crimes. The failure to give attention to the fact that all four (now) convicted terrorists are Muslim and attended the same Mosque, was no accident. And be sure this was not just a simple news brief—this was a nearly 400-word story breaking the news that the Islamic terrorists were found guilty.
Readers may have assumed that bombing synagogues in the Bronx is something that men of any background and religious/political orientation may want to engage in. (Note that in this following link to a later, 865-word version of the article “Men” was eliminated from the headline. The word mosque now appears, while, the words Islam and Muslim still do not.)
On October 18 Fahim began his article: “Four men accused of planting bombs outside synagogues in the Bronx and plotting to fire missiles at military planes were convicted on Monday, in a case that was widely seen as an important test of the entrapment defense.”
Entrapment? This is the popular new claim among those defending Muslims accused of terrorism. It is that the Muslims were somehow “tricked” or “duped” into conspiring to murder Americans.
How did other news outlets report on the event?
The JTA Jewish news service based in New York reported: “Three of the men, who all converted to Islam while serving jail time for other crimes, are U.S. citizens; the fourth is Haitian.”
The Bloomberg News wire service provided some significant background on the motivations of these Islamic terrorists:
Hussain had been attending the Masjid-al-Ikhlas mosque in Newburgh for about six months when he was approached in the parking lot by Cromitie, who introduced himself as Abdul Rehman, the informant testified at the trial. Hussain said Cromitie told him he was unhappy that Muslims were being killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan and expressed a “desire to do something to America.” (This Bloomberg item was posted by CNN at: www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/18/new.york.synagogue.plot/?hpt=T2)
Fahim reported on the Bronx terrorism trial for months for the Times. He seems to have been their key reporter on terrorism cases for some time. For example he wrote a May 10, 2007 article about the 2007 Fort Dix terrorism plot. This Southern New Jersey / Philadelphia case was far from a New York City crime beat assignment. He helped cover the Times Square bomb attack as well. Bylines point to Fahim being with the Times since April 2005.
But Fahim previously wrote for The Village Voice tabloid. The Voice’s radical editorial stance on civil liberties, terrorism and Israel issues is well-known.
Just weeks after September 11th, in an article titled “The Emir and His Lieutenant” about Al Qaeda, Fahim termed the terrorist organization just an “extremist group.” Fahim’s writings include apologies for terrorist acts, such as the statement that “Bin Laden and al-Zawahiri have seized on the desperation of the Arab world.” He also quoted a New York University professor who stated the following bit of garbage: “The Islamists present a utopian vision.”
But there are other questions about Fahim’s background.
In 2000 Fahim held a position at the Cairo based weekly newspaper Al-Ahram. Slate.com reported in 2004 that “Egypt’s Al Ahram Weekly (is) the English-language version of the regime’s own media organ.”
Even here, he demonstrated his bias, treating the selection of Dick Cheney, a national security hawk, as George W. Bush’s running mate as a “summer surprise” that went against “the logic of positive image-making.” Fahim’s biases are transparent.
Fahim is entitled to his opinions and he should not be blocked from a career as a news reporter because of those opinions. However, the editors at The New York Times have a responsibility to make sure the line between opinion and news reporting remains definite if they chose to employ a radical like Fahim.
This column has cited just a few examples of problems in his work and background. The conclusion must be made that The New York Times should create a non-partisan panel to conduct a thorough review of Fahim’s reporting over the last five years.
While some may object to the comparison, it is not unreasonable to note that Fahim was hired after the Jayson Blair scandal that supposedly resulted in a house-cleaning at the paper. And yet Fahim’s reporting on Islamic terror plots can be viewed as equally objectionable as Blair’s made-up fantasies.
It should be recalled that the Times story on the Blair scandal was a 7,239 word front-page story that labeled the events “a low point in the 152-year history of the newspaper” (May 11, 2003). The story was given the headline “Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception.”
Fahim’s deceptions, which include grossly misleading coverage of a plot targeting American citizens for death, may be an even greater low point. The bias is open and blatant.
Moshe Phillips is the President of the Philadelphia Chapter of Americans for a Safe Israel / AFSI. The chapter’s website is at: www.phillyafsi.com. Moshe’s blog can be found at http://phillyafsi.blogtownhall.com and Moshe tweets at http://twitter.com/MoshePhillips
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