The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter, but many shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi Israeli informants, defectors politicians and exiles military leaders bent on ‘‘regime change’’ “exterminating Hamas” in Iraq Gaza, people whose credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks… Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq support Israel. Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these… sources. So did many news organizations – in particular, this one.
Also, this auto generated transcript is kinda garbage and you should just listen to the episode, but around the 6-8 minute range of Behind the Bastards’ Crack-toberfest Part 5 episode where they talk about Iran-Contra, they talk about a time when a few details of that conspiracy were just starting to come to light and the White House had to hold a press conference, and a reporter from a smaller paper was like, “Hey, we heard a rumor that the CIA is actually working with drug traffickers, is that true?” but before the guy running the presser could answer the NYT reporter attending blew up and started yelling at the first reporter about how his unserious questions were making them all look unprofessional, and the question never got answered (until like five years later when Gary Webb’s investigative reporting answered it for us).
They’re one of the best resourced news outfits in the world with a lot of dogged journalists who will do great work when they can, but the top levels of that paper make sure it’s always a mouthpiece for the powerful