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NYT's damage control over the Callimachi/Caliphate podcast scandal -- the old "we're good people just trying to get the story right" line -- completely glosses over the way they lashed out at critics who correctly called them out at the time. https://twitter.com/rafiazakaria/status/1340297882319118336
Excusing the cheap exploitation of anti-Muslim sentiment as reasonable error guided by good intentions is just one of the many names of whiteness. But whiteness of course has infrastructures. In this respect the NYT's reconstruction of its decision-making is revealing.
Excuse #1: "But THE GOVERNMENT also said so." *Unnamed* officials claimed Abu Huzayfah was on a no-fly list (this has never been verified and the list is secret). A claim that, even if true, isn't corroboration -- it's just another echo in the echo chamber https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/20/podcasts/caliphate-transcript-chapter-six-paper-trail.html
Excuse #2: "But TERRORISM EXPERTS also said so."
Which is pretty revealing about how experts are anointed. This one, who admits he has no mental health training, thinks Abu Huzayfa must be telling the truth because otherwise that would "seem[] insane."
![Excuse #2: "But TERRORISM EXPERTS also said so." Which is pretty revealing about how experts are anointed. This one, who admits he has no mental health training, thinks Abu Huzayfa must be telling the truth because otherwise that would "seem[] insane."](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EpnSy8dXcAET24_.jpg "Excuse #2: \"But TERRORISM EXPERTS also said so.\" Which is pretty revealing about how experts are anointed. This one, who admits he has no mental health training, thinks Abu Huzayfa must be telling the truth because otherwise that would \"seem[] insane.\"")
Which is pretty revealing about how experts are anointed. This one, who admits he has no mental health training, thinks Abu Huzayfa must be telling the truth because otherwise that would "seem[] insane."
Let's talk about the incestuous journo-expert relationship?This expert debunked another one of Callimachi's trash articles -- one that relied on dodgy documents peddled by a self-proclaimed ex-spy -- yet still bends over backward to make excuses
https://www.aymennjawad.org/2020/10/the-rukmini-callimachi-controversies-some-thoughts
https://www.aymennjawad.org/2020/10/the-rukmini-callimachi-controversies-some-thoughts
Excuse #3: "We had doubts and even made that part of the story." My favorite attempt at corroboration is the extended sequence in episode 6 of #Caliphate on fancy geolocation of photos -- when it turned out one pic Abu Huzayfa shared was already world-famous
This good-intentions framework is indestructible. No matter how many "mistakes" are made, how much damage in terms of dehumanizing entire populations, it's all just bumps on the road to truth-seeking. But of course such generousness can only be extended to the right people.
Most revealing is how NYT understands is constituency and, thus, its framework for accountability. Apologies are made to "readers" and "listeners" in general, not the people whose lives are materially damaged by the narratives they peddle and profit from https://twitter.com/SanaSaeed/status/1339998022210613252
