'Major league failure' by NY Times on Caliphate podcast
Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz on the New York Times admitting false claims in its acclaimed podcast series on ISIS.
One of The New York Times' star journalists is under fire for not disclosing his ties to the now-discredited podcast series "Caliphate" on his own podcast that tackled the sore subject.
Michael Barbaro, host of the Times' popular podcast "The Daily," offered a mea culpa installment with Times executive editor Dean Baquet, who spoke candidly about his paper's shortcomings that led to a massive correction that undermined its widely-praised 2018 reporting about ISIS.
However, Barbaro himself didn't exactly speak candidly about his apparent ties to the controversial podcast.
NPR reported on Thursday about the various conflicts of interest Barbaro had leading up to his installment of "The Daily" that addressed the paper's blunder. "The Daily" was instrumental in the rollout of the "Caliphate" series, running its first episode as an episode of Barbaro's own show.
"From The New York Times and the team that brought you The Daily, this is Caliphate," the Times hyped the podcast at the time, according to NPR.
"The Daily" producer Andy Mills "helped drive the sound and feel of 'Caliphate'" and was described as the "sidekick" of Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi, who was behind the discredited podcast. Mills ran various tasks from "testing her microphones, prodding translators" to "questioning sources."
NEW YORK TIMES ADMITS MASSIVE FAILURE TO VET FALSE CLAIMS MADE IN 'CALIPHATE' PODCAST
Among other crew members of "The Daily" that went to work on "Caliphate" was executive producer Lisa Tobin, who is engaged to Barbaro.
"Yet those listening to Barbaro press Baquet would not have known that the host is engaged to the executive producer of the very series whose flaws he was dissecting," NPR wrote. "Indeed, listeners of 'The Daily' would not necessarily have known about the corrective episode at all, as it flowed only to listeners of 'Caliphate,' not the feed of the much larger audience for 'The Daily.'"
A spokesperson for the Times told NPR, "Our goal in producing this corrective audio episode was to make sure we provided our podcast listeners with the same level of transparency and accountability we gave print and online readers," adding, "It was a new approach for us, but we are committed to applying the same rigorous journalistic standards across all of our platforms."
The Times did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Last week, the Times published an extensive correction after acknowledging "Caliphate" heavily relied on a serial fabulist who claimed to have been a member of the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization. The debacle was so embarrassing for the once-proud newspaper that Baquet called it an "institutional failing" and the Times even returned a coveted Peabody Award that the project earned.
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The "Caliphate" blunder is the latest in a series of embarrassing moments and public relations nightmares for the Times in recent memory, such as the controversial 1619 project and the chaos that unfolded when the paper printed an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., headlined "Send in the Troops" at the height of nationwide rioting following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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