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Michelle Malkin reports on a ludicrously inaccurate cover story in the New York Times magazine, which NYT ombudsman Byron Calame debunked this weekend.
THE cover story on abortion in El Salvador in The New York Times Magazine on April 9 contained prominent references to an attention-grabbing fact. “A few” women, the first paragraph indicated, were serving 30-year jail terms for having had abortions. That reference included a young woman named Carmen Climaco. The article concluded with a dramatic account of how Ms. Climaco received the sentence after her pregnancy had been aborted after 18 weeks.
It turns out, however, that trial testimony convinced a court in 2002 that Ms. Climaco’s pregnancy had resulted in a full-term live birth, and that she had strangled the “recently born.” A three-judge panel found her guilty of “aggravated homicide,” a fact the article noted. But without bothering to check the court document containing the panel’s findings and ruling, the article’s author, Jack Hitt, a freelancer, suggested that the “truth” was different.
No correction or clarification from the Times. It gets ridiculous, doesn't it?
Update: I forgot to mention that Katie Favazza was covering this this weekend. I saw it this morning on her blog and didn't link. D'oh!
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