The New York Times said Friday it would return its 2018 Peabody Award for its “Caliphate” podcast, hours after the paper admitted that large portions of the audio series fell short of editorial standards.
Why it matters: It’s an embarrassing mistake for The Times, which has invested significant resources in the project since 2018. It’s also a stark reminder to the journalism industry that even large, well-funded institutions can make costly mistakes.
What they say: “As a standard for quality media, the integrity of the Peabody Award is paramount, and we appreciate the professional way the Times has handled this matter,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of the Peabody Awards, Friday night.
- “We are receiving the award back in recognition of the mutual respect that both organizations have for each other’s long track record of journalistic integrity.”
- rukmini Callimachi, who hosted the series, tweeted Friday, “To our listeners, I apologize for what we missed and what we did wrong.”
- The editor-in-chief of The Times, Dean Baquet said in an interview with the newspaper’s morning podcast “The Daily”, “When The New York Times does deep, big, ambitious journalism in whatever format, we scrutinize it at the higher levels of the editorial staff. We didn’t do that in this case. “
- He admitted that he had not personally provided the same review process for this story as he did with other major investigations, such as the Trump tax return piece. “I regret that … I personally didn’t pay enough attention to this one.”
The state of affairs: The Times added a note from the editor to the top of the pages containing elements of “Caliphate”.
- The newspaper chose not to delete the episodes, and the original story and podcasts are still on the company’s website and podcast platforms.
- The Times had its opinion and news headlines about the unfolding of events, and Baquet explained what happened on “The Daily”.
- Callimachi has been reassigned, the Washington Post writes.
Overtaking quickly: Earlier this year, reports began to surface that the protagonist in the “Caliphate” podcast named Shehroze Chaudhry, a self-proclaimed ISIS executioner, had lied and exaggerated about his experience.
The Times conducted an internal investigation after numerous reports of holes in the central figure’s story.
- Canadian authorities arrested Chaudhry in September, claiming that he made misleading statements about terrorist activities in interviews
- The Times “found a history of misrepresentation by Mr. Chaudhry and no confirmation that he committed the atrocities he described in the ‘Caliphate’ podcast,” said the editor’s note published Friday.
- “I think this guy we now think was a con man,” said Baquet. “I think this is one of those cases where we weren’t listening hard enough to the things that challenged the story and the signs that our story might not be as strong as we thought it was.”
To the question or the answer against “caliphate” lies constitutes withdrawal, Baquet told NPR in an interview: “I think for the parts that went over [Shehroze] Chaudhry and its history and its background. Yes, I think so. Certainly. “