Readers have complained over the New York Times’ placement of Richard Goldstone’s retraction of claims about Gaza, according to Arthur Brisbane, the Times’ public editor.
Goldstone retracted “the central and most explosive assertion” made by the United Nations panel that claimed “Israel intentionally killed Palestinian civilians” in Gaza. While the Times’ 2009 report about Goldstone and the UN panel claims was featured on the front page, news of the retraction was published on page 10A.
According to Brisbane, “the complaining readers’ view was simple enough: if you publish a damaging allegation on the front page, you should publish evidence to the contrary in the same place. ”
Brisbane wrote that he asked the Times’ foreign editor, Susan Chira, about the placement, and Chira said that the Times already had set “an analytical piece” about Israel on the front page and the front page is supposed to be “a mix of news.”
Brisbane opined in conclusion that “the treatment of these two stories was reasonable, under the circumstances.”