Tracing Propaganda

by Chris Bodenner

NYT reporter Elizabeth Bumiller is backpedaling on her A1 story yesterday that blared "1 in 7 Detainees Rejoined Jihad," which was subsequently changed in the Web version to reflect a vaguer possibility: "Later Terror Link Cited for 1 in 7 Freed Detainees." TPM's Elliott asks:

Did Bumiller and her editors consider the possibility that a six-year stay Gitmo could actually create terrorists? That an innocent Afghan man embittered after being scooped up by the United States and unjustly imprisoned for years might actually become a terrorist?

Ackermann tracked the story yesterday, highlighting a Human Rights Watch report saying at least one of the detainees had been tortured into admitting recividism. CAP's Ken Gude rips into Bumiller's shoddy journalism:

Reaching back into an old bag of tricks, Bush administration holdovers in the Pentagon have used the paper of record to spread false propaganda at a critical juncture in a key national security debate, this time about released Guantanamo detainees supposedly returning to terrorism. This article has just one purpose: to mislead readers about the true nature of the threat posed by released Guantanamo detainees. ... What kind of journalism allows a reporter to write a story so clearly slanted in one direction without even a minimal effort to verify the information that forms its basis?

Shayana Kadidal piles on.