[Media-watch] Former NYTimes editor blames supervisors not reporters for Iraq mistakes - LATimes - 27/05/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-howell27may27,1,885623.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

May 27, 2004


THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Former Editor Rejects Thrust of N.Y. Times Note

Howell Raines denies Iraq stories were rushed to get scoops during his
tenure and blames supervisors, not chief reporter, for mistakes.
By Josh Getlin, Times Staff Writer


NEW YORK - Howell Raines, the former executive editor of the New York Times,
on Wednesday sharply criticized an editor's note that said some of the
paper's stories about Iraq and its alleged weapons of mass destruction were
inaccurate and might have been rushed into print by editors hungry for
scoops. The stories in question appeared during Raines' tenure.

Raines also defended stories by New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who
has been criticized by some journalism observers for relying on misleading
information from dubious sources.

The former editor said any blame should fall on those who supervised the
reporter's work, including Managing Editor Jill Abramson, who personally
edited Miller's stories.

"My feeling is that no editor did this kind of reckless rushing while I was
executive editor," said Raines, who issued his comments in response to a
query from Los Angeles Times media columnist Tim Rutten. Raines resigned
last year amid the national uproar over Jayson Blair, a reporter who was
found to have plagiarized and fabricated numerous stories, embarrassing the
paper.

"I can tell you positively that in 25 years on the Times and in 21 months as
executive editor, I never put anything into the paper before I thought it
was ready," Raines said. "Any of the 30 or so people who sat in our
front-page meetings during the run-up to the Iraq invasion and the first
phase of the war can attest to the seriousness with which everyone took the
story."

Raines also expressed anger over the fact that nobody at the New York Times
had asked for his opinion about the paper's Iraq coverage before issuing the
editor's note in Wednesday's editions. And, he said, "former associates" had
made comments about his tenure that were "inaccurate, misleading or based on
personal animus or opposition to my efforts to energize the paper."

Raines' comments marked the third time he had publicly voiced sharp
criticism of the paper since he and former Managing Editor Gerald Boyd were
forced to resign by Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

Bill Keller, the New York Times' current executive editor, did not respond
to a request for comment Wednesday evening. A spokeswoman for the paper also
declined to comment.

The editors' note, titled "The Times and Iraq," summarized the conclusions
of an internal review of hundreds of Iraq stories that have run in recent
years. The paper said it had examined "the failings of American and allied
intelligence, especially on the issue of Iraq's weapons and possible Iraqi
connections to international terrorists" and noted that "it is past time we
turned the same light on ourselves."

"We have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as
it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then,
and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand
unchallenged," Times editors said.

The note concluded that the story of Iraq's weapons, and the misinformation
that has clouded the public debate, remains unfinished business. "And we
fully intend to continue aggressive reporting aimed at setting the record
straight."