By: Joe Strupp The co-author of a recent front page story in The New York Times about the death of a detainee at the U.S. military base in Guant?namo should have disclosed his past opposition to the prison there, according to an editors' note in today's Times.
The editors' note, published on Page A-2, referred to a Tuesday Page One article that "described the problems of the tribunals at the American military base in Guant?namo, as seen through the failure to resolve the case of Abdul Razzaq Hekmati, an Afghan war hero who died there Dec. 30 after a five-year-long detention."
Andy Worthington, a freelancer who worked on the article, was listed as a co-author and "did some of the initial reporting but was not involved in all of it, and The Times verified the information he provided," the note added.
But, the note later revealed, Worthington had also written a book, ?The Guant?namo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America?s Illegal Prison." In it "he takes the position that Guant?namo is part of what he describes as a cruel and misguided response by the Bush administration to the Sept. 11 attacks. He has also expressed strong criticism of Guant?namo in articles published elsewhere.
"The editors were not aware of Mr. Worthington?s outspoken position on Guant?namo," the note stated. "They should have described his contribution to the reporting instead of listing him as co-author, and noted that he had a point of view."
The entire editor's note can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/pageoneplus/corrections.html
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