New York Times reporter CAIRs about mosque
The line separating “all the news fit to print” and the oxymoron called advocacy journalism — that is, propaganda — looks blurry at The New York Times.
Steven Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism said on September 20 that Times reporter Sharaf Mowjood, who authored several favorable articles about Manhattan’s “ground zero mosque, attended a two-day media training program in 2009 led by the mosque’s organizer, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf.
Rauf’s American Society for Muslim Advancement highlighted Mowjood’s coverage to support claims its news media training worked.
Mowjood, also a student at Columbia University’s graduate program in journalism, reportedly served as a lobbyist for the Council on American Islamic Relations before joining The New York Times. CAIR, subject of CAMERA’s Special Report, “The Council on American Islamic Relations: Civil Rights or Extremism?” was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the U.S. Justice Department’s Holy Land Relief and Development Foundation (HLF) trial. The founder of its Texas chapter was sentenced to 65 years in prison in the HLF case for helping raise millions of dollars for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
In addition, in an out-of-court settlement with the Web site www.anti-cair-net.org, CAIR did not contest allegations that it was founded by Hamas members, that it was founded by Islamic terrorists and that it was funded by Hamas
supporters.
New York Times Metro Editor Joe Sexton defended Mowjood’s reporting. But imagine The Times hiring a former Jewish Defense League staffer, then assigning him or her to report on controversial activities of suspect American Jewish leaders, and finally defending the resultant puff pieces. Impossible? Could the “Gray Lady” be using a double standard?
More from SNAPSHOTS
CNN’s Amanpour Condemns “power grab” By Israel’s Prime Minister and Others
April 1, 2020
We’ve said it often, but it’s worth repeating: Anyone interested in reasonably unbiased information about Israel (at least) should avoid the broadcasts of CNN’s Chief International Correspondent and Anchor, Christiane Amanpour. In characterizing responses to [...]
Seattle Media Oblivious To Imam’s Hateful Indoctrination Condemning Jews
January 7, 2020
The Masjid Ar-Rahmah mosque teaching – that Allah transformed Jews into apes and pigs for disobeying him – delivered by Imam (prayer leader) Mohamad Joban – was posted online by mosque personnel. This December 2019 [...]
AP Distorts: Bethlehem ‘Almost Completely Surrounded’
December 10, 2019
Over two years after improving inaccurate language falsely citing Israel's security "barrier surrounding the biblical city" of Bethlehem, the Associated Press once again misrepresents. AP's Joseph Krauss and Mohammad Daraghmeh wrote yesterday ("Palestinians in Bethlehem [...]
Reuters Errs on Administrative Detention For ‘Anti-Israel Activity’
November 5, 2019
The Ofer Prison, near Ramallah (Photo by Tamar Sternthal) A Reuters article today egregiously misrepresents administrative detention, erroneously asserting that it is mainly applied to "Palestinians suspected of anti-Israeli activities," when in fact the Israeli [...]