In Rare Move, White House Demands 'Correction' of 'NYT' Deck

By: E&P Staff One of the top national stories of the day is the front-pager in The New York Times which suggests that White House involvement in the controversy surrounding the destruction of the CIA "torture tapes" was much wider than previously known.

The White House has kicked back against the Times on various other front-page reports in recent years but today it has asked for something specific: a "correction" of the headline's deck.

The Hill, the Washington, D.C. newspapers, reports, "Catherine Mathis, senior vice president of corporate communications for the newspaper, stated that the sub-headline has been changed, adding that a correction would be printed. However, Mathis also pointed out that the White House did not challenge the contents of the article."

Dean Baquet, the paper's D.C. chief, told Politico.com that while the deck went a ?little farther than the story,? the facts in the piece are accurate. ?Nobody has challenged the thrust of the story,? Baquet said. ?If they want to quibble with the deck, they have a legitimate point. But nobody is raising any questions with what the story is about, and what the story said.?

Here's a statement via press spokeswoman Dana Perino.
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The New York Times today implies that the White House has been misleading in publicly acknowledging or discussing details related to the CIA's decision to destroy interrogation tapes.

The sub-headline of the story inaccurately says that the "White House Role Was Wider Than It Said", and the story states that "...the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes...was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged."

Under direction from the White House General Counsel while the Department of Justice and the CIA Inspector General conduct a preliminary inquiry, we have not publicly commented on facts relating to this issue, except to note President Bush's immediate reaction upon being briefed on the matter. Furthermore, we have not described - neither to highlight, nor to minimize -- the role or deliberations of White House officials in this matter.

The New York Times' inference that there is an effort to mislead in this matter is pernicious and troubling, and we are formally requesting that NYT correct the sub-headline of this story.

It will not be surprising that this matter will be reported with a reliance on un-named sources and individuals lacking a full availability of the facts -- and, as the New York Times story itself acknowledges, some of these sources will have wildly conflicting accounts of the facts. We will instead focus our efforts on supporting the preliminary inquiry underway, where facts can be gathered without bias or influence and later disseminated in an appropriate fashion.
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