Eight days after the story was published, Mr. Shoumali asked Ms. Call Sympathy wrote to Limachi and other Times reporters, saying in an email exchange I received that “Syrian contacts raise more and more questions about the credibility of one of our sources” and that the details of the story were changed in a conversation between the two men after Mr. Abu Al-Zawed published the story.
Ms. Kama Limachi emailed that the details of the prison scene were “independently confirmed by European kidnappers held in the same location or by the state department” – a response that seems surprising, given the story of Mr. Abu Al-Judd’s observations as his witness. doing. Account.
The Times had a different concern about that 2014 story that, shortly after a separate reporter, Tim Arengo, was sent back to southern Turkey, his interview was published for a re-interview with Mr. Abu Al-Joud, who repeated his story to him and Mr. Shomali from the game. I tried again in early October. Like Mrs. K Call Limachi, I do not speak Arabic and have hired another Syrian journalist to ask Mr. Abu Al-Joud my questions. In that interview, he told a version of the story that appears in the Times, but with elements that muddled the net story. He said he only saw one hostage, not three times indicated. And he said he didn’t realize after the break-up that he had seen any of them – contrary to the impression by the Times article.
Ms. Kalimachi said in an email that she wanted the story to be clear about the “limitations” of reporting on terrorists. He said, ‘Looking back, I wish I could have added more attribution so that readers know the steps I took to support their account details.’
Mr. Kahan, the international editor at the time, is constantly on the go.
“Questions raised by Rukmini about the source of the story he wrote about the constitution to American hostages in Syria were thoroughly investigated by journalists and editors at the international desk and by the Times’ public editor, and the results of those reviews were published,” he said. Said an email. “I’m not familiar with the new information that casts doubt on the way to handle it.”
Aside from these questions, the article’s argument has had an impact on Washington and Washington, forcing the United States government to reconsider its ban on ransom payments. But that part now lingers beneath the uncomfortable cloud of doubt. It’s on the Times website, with no acknowledgment of the questions surrounding the initial joke. The only amendment says that the story, when first published, did not make it clear that Mr. Abo Aljaoud used a nickname.
Last month, the same cloud of suspicion landed on the caliphate. And Ms. Kalimachi now faces harsh criticism from within the Times – for the cinematic stories in her writing and for the Times’ place in the big arguments for portraying terrorism.
But while some of the coverage has portrayed him as a kind of rogue actor in the Times, my reporting suggests that he was delivering what the senior-most leaders of the news organization wanted with his support.
Mausab Allahamad contributed to the report.
