Regret the Error » conflicts of interest

Editors’ note

Craig Silverman — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 12:00:59 +0000

The â€œPlaceâ€ feature about Miami in the T magazine travel issue on Nov. 22 included a reference to the 8 oz. Burger Bar. The writer has had a long personal relationship with a co-owner of the restaurant; had editors known of that connection, the restaurant would not have been included in the article. Link

Credit to the NYTPicker for pointing out this issue.

Reviewing the reviewers

Craig Silverman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:57 +0000

A review of LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger’s book “Shooting Stars” in the Nov. 1 Outlook section should have disclosed that a book by the reviewer, Allen Barra, had been reviewed by Bissinger in another publication.

And:

A review of Jon Krakauer’s book “Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman” in the Sept. 13 Outlook section should have disclosed that the reviewer, Andrew Exum, had served as an unpaid adviser to Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, whose role in the aftermath of Tillman’s death is described in the book. Link to both

The mayor and his friends

Craig Silverman — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:00:41 +0000

An article on Saturday about Sam Adams, the mayor of Portland, who is under fire after admitting that in 2005 he had a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old intern, included a quotation from Christopher Stowell, the artistic director for the Oregon Ballet Theater, who attended a rally in support of the mayor. Mr. Stowell said that while he was upset with the mayor, he believed that instead of allowing him to resign, â€œI think we should force him to do the job.â€

After the article was published, several readers reported that Mr. Stowell and the mayor had had a romantic relationship; Mr. Stowell confirmed that they did, for a few months in 2004. If The Times had turned up the information earlier, it would have been included in the article. Link

And:

The headline of this article, originally published January 21, 2009 at 12:01 a.m was corrected January 21, 2009 at 5:07 p.m. Portland Mayor Sam Adams admitted Monday to having a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old man. A previous headline incorrectly reported that Adams had sex with a 17-year-old. Link

A conflict of interest

Craig Silverman — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:00:03 +0000

An article in the issue dated October 18th (“Treatment on a plate”) described a nutritional approach to the treatment of drug addiction. Part of the article was reported from a conference, one of whose organisers is a nutritionist with a commercial interest in the relationship between diet and brain function. It has been drawn to our attention that the author of the article is also the co-author of a book with this organiser. Had we known this at the time, we would not have commissioned the piece from him. It has also been suggested that some of the studies alluded to were too small to support the conclusions drawn from them. The article made clear that these studies (which had been published independently of the conference) were preliminary and that further investigation would be needed to substantiate this approach. However, it may not have been clear that the experiments were conducted using nutrients found in the foodstuffs mentioned, rather than using the foods themselves.

Editor’s note

Craig Silverman — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:00:40 +0000

A front-page article on Tuesday described the problems of the tribunals at the American military base in GuantÃ¡namo, as seen through the failure to resolve the case of Abdul Razzaq Hekmati, an Afghan war hero who died there Dec. 30 after a five-year-long detention. The article quoted several Afghan officials who said they were prepared to offer evidence that he was falsely accused, but were never given a chance to do so.
Andy Worthington, a freelance journalist who worked on the article under contract with The New York Times and was listed as its co-author, did some of the initial reporting but was not involved in all of it, and The Times verified the information he provided. That included the fact of Mr. Hekmatiâ€™s death, and the content of transcripts released by the Pentagon showing that the accusations against Mr. Hekmati had been made by unidentified sources and that the tribunal at GuantÃ¡namo had never called outside witnesses requested by detainees.
Mr. Worthington has written a book, â€œThe GuantÃ¡namo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in Americaâ€™s Illegal Prison,â€ in which he takes the position that GuantÃ¡namo is part of what he describes as a cruel and misguided response by the Bush administration to the Sept. 11 attacks. He has also expressed strong criticism of GuantÃ¡namo in articles published elsewhere.
The editors were not aware of Mr. Worthingtonâ€™s outspoken position on GuantÃ¡namo. They should have described his contribution to the reporting instead of listing him as co-author, and noted that he had a point of view. Link