New York Times requests apology from Fox on ISIS story
The New York Times on Sunday took the unusual step of requesting an apology from a competitor, asking "Fox & Friends" to retract a report that the Times was to blame for the 2015 escape of an ISIS leader. Fox subsequently updated the story on its website with the NYT letter.
"I am writing on behalf of The New York Times to request an on-air apology and tweet from Fox & Friends in regards to a malicious and inaccurate segment 'NY Times leak allowed ISIS leader to slip away,'” wrote Danielle Rhoades Ha, vice president of communications for the Times.
The "Fox & Friends" report, which aired Saturday, apparently spurred a tweet by President Donald Trump: “The Failing New York Times foiled U.S. attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist, al-Baghdadi,” the president wrote later Saturday. “Their sick agenda over National Security.”
In her request, Rhoades Ha added: "Neither the staff at Fox & Friends, nor the writers of a related story on Foxnews.com, appeared to make any attempt to confirm relevant facts, nor did they reach out to The New York Times for comment."
Later Sunday, Fox attached the New York Times letter to its original story and issued this statement: "The FoxNews.com story was already updated online and Fox & Friends will also provide an updated story to viewers tomorrow morning based on the FoxNews.com report. For all of their concern about accuracy, the New York Times didn't reach out to anyone at Fox News until Sunday afternoon for a story that ran Friday night."
A U.S. raid in May 2015 led to the death of Abu Sayyaf — a close associate of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — as well as the capture of his wife, Umm Sayyaf, and a trove of documents and laptops.
The raid in eastern Syria was disclosed the next day by Defense Secretary Ash Carter. “This is very useful, very important intelligence that we were able to collect,” a Defense official told POLITICO at the time.
Rhoades Ha pointed out that Fox News' Catherine Herridge reported on the raid on May 17, 2015.
Additional details were reported in a New York Times article in June 2015.
Fox's claim that the Times sabotaged U.S. efforts with its reporting originated with a statement from Gen. Tony Thomas, who told Fox that the published report caused a lead to the ISIS leader's whereabouts to go dry. "That was a very good lead. Unfortunately, it was leaked in a prominent national newspaper about a week later and that lead went dead,” said Thomas, who leads the U.S. Special Operations Command.
A Fox News spokesperson said "There is absolutely no comparison between Herridge's brief report on Fox News Sunday" and the Times "reported much more compromising details than Herridge did, in revealing revealing specific details about how Baghdadi communicated and who played a role delivering those communications. Also, [the Times] reported the terrorist's wife was cooperating and how an informant led to the target."
The Times claims the pertinent material was actually disclosed by Carter in his public statement and stated that the Pentagon did not object to its more detailed June article.
Speaking on background, a Fox News executive slammed Rhoades Ha for seeking the apology only on Sunday afternoon and for alerting reporters at the same time.