The IHT Scores an 'Analytical Scoop'! Not.

Oreskes Bites the Big One -- Again

When New York Times career bureaucrat -- and proven failure -- Michael Oreskes was shipped overseas to take over the International Herald Tribune, he made a pledge. Oreskes told MarketWatch that the lagging, near-bankrupt IHT would shore up its failing editorial product by getting "analytical scoops."

Instead we've seen one blunder after another -- and still another one lately that is a real doozy. As CAMERA's Snapshots blog reported, on Friday the IHT let Palestinian "negotiator" Saeb Erekat lie about the size of Israeli's army. Erekat calls it the fifth-largest in the world -- when it is not even fifth-largest in the Middle East! (Hat tip: IRIS.)

Sure, it is an opinion piece -- but the Times still has an obligation to not let gross factual errors creep by. The Times has acknowledged that, by the way, several times.

What makes this failure to fact-check particularly unforgiveable is that Erekat is a serial liar.

Way to go, Mike Oreskes! With more "scoops" like this, the IHT may go the way of that other enterprise you drove into the ground, the Times/Discovery Channel. Meanwhile, how about a big, fat, correction?