Who is Alison Leigh Cowan? Former NYT journalist denounces newspaper after botched Gaza hospital blast coverage
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Alison Leigh Cowan, a renowned journalist who previously worked with the New York Times, has accused the newspaper of "modern-day blood libel" after its botched coverage of an explosion at a Gaza hospital.
Cowan is a longtime reporter and editor, who worked for The New York Times for nearly 27 years.
She received a master's degree in business from Harvard after studying philosophy at Princeton. Cowan joined The Times in 1987 as a reporter on the business desk and then went on to serve as Deputy Business Editor.
On Monday, October 23, she penned an aggressive article for Commentary magazine, denouncing the NY Times for "callously, and somewhat blithely committ[ing] at least two grave journalistic errors in relation to Israel and Gaza.”
Her first example was the Times' decision to rehire freelance videographer Soliman Hijjy, who was found to have frequently praised Hitler on social media last year.
The Times justified its choice to have Hijjy report on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, telling Fox News Digital, "We reviewed problematic social media posts by Mr Hijjy when they first came to light in 2022 and took a variety of actions to ensure he understood our concerns and could adhere to our standards if he wished to do freelance work for us in the future.”
Slamming the newspaper for its response, Cowan wrote, "Translation: we need all hands on deck now, and if we had to pester people about everything they had posted online since they were ten or make them forswear Nazism and other noxious ideologies before we allowed them to help shape our news report, we might disappoint readers awaiting their daily fix of news.”
“So, quit asking about how the sausage gets made, unless you want to see more recipes and word games filling out pages where there should be news,” she continued.
Alison Leigh Cowan slams NY Times for Gaza hospital coverage
Next, Cowan addressed the Times' much-maligned reporting on the explosion at a Gaza hospital last week. The Times and a number of other traditional media channels aired a narrative pushed by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry that an "Israeli airstrike" resulted in hundreds of dead civilians.
However, an investigation later revealed that the explosion was a misfire from inside Gaza by the Hamas ally Islamic Jihad, which left significant damage in the parking lot, not the hospital itself.
In her article, Cowan compared her experience with how the Times is now covering the Israel-Hamas conflict. “In this case, the paper’s updates had no qualms issuing a steady drumbeat of words characterizing the ‘attack’ as ‘staggering,’ ‘horrific’ and ‘devastating,’ and a possible act of ‘genocide,'" she wrote.
"Why, I wondered, were claims of nondescript Gazan 'officials,' a euphemistic shorthand the Times used to describe its sources, given higher billing and more credence than the claims of on-the-record Israeli military personnel offering tangible evidence to back up their assertions?” she continued.
The journalist then expressed her fear that the narrative aired in the NY Times’ coverage would be used “to justify hatred towards the Jews."
“Pretty soon, I felt like I was watching a modern-day blood libel take shape before my eyes. I remain fearful that much of what the paper of record published in the blast’s blurry aftermath, continuing to point blame in Israel’s direction for the hospital’s deaths, will live on in the narratives and lies that have been used throughout history to justify hatred towards the Jews,” she stated.
Alison Leigh Cowan points out 'cautionary tale'
Cowan continued to bemoan the fact that such inaccurate reports "do not go back into their bottle" and that no amount of updates or self-apologies will repair the harm or change the persistently wrong narrative.
While acknowledging that "some in my profession" will brush off such mistakes, she also called attention to the Times' "cautionary tale," which carried a misleading report in 1939 that was based only on Hitler propaganda and contributed to the outbreak of WWII, as per Fox News.
"Bottom line: We all stand in the debt of courageous correspondents who pursue the most dangerous and searing wartime stories out there,” she said.
“But journalism’s warriors must stick to the facts and leave the making of propaganda to someone else," Cowan concluded. The Times has yet to respond to Cowan’s remarks.