New York Times Magazine Did Not Show Enough 'Vigor' For Accuracy And Fairness In Part Of Article On El Salvador Abortion Law,Opinion Piece Says

Although an April 9, 2006, New York Times Magazine article "provided a broad and intriguing look" at El Salvador's abortion law, "[a]ccuracy and fairness" in regard to a "key example" in the story "were not pursued with the vigor Times readers have the right to expect," Byron Calame, the Times' reader representative, writes in the New York Times. According to Calame, the article stated that a "few" women in El Salvador were serving 30-year prison terms for having had abortions. It also included an account of how a woman named Carmen Climaco received a 30-year prison sentence after having an abortion at 18 weeks' gestation, Calame writes. According to Calame, "it turns out that trial testimony convinced a court in 2002 that Climaco's pregnancy had resulted in a full-term live birth and that she had strangled the 'recently born'." The court found her guilty of "aggravated homicide," Calame writes, adding that the article's author, Jack Hitt, "suggested that the 'truth' was different." Hitt "never checked" the ruling "while preparing for his story" and said "no editor or fact checker ever asked him if he had checked the court document containing the panel's decision," Calame writes. He also addresses the Times' response to reader complaints about the story. "Articles on topics as sensitive as abortion need an extra level of diligence and scrutiny," Calame writes, adding, "Exceptional care must be taken in the reporting process on sensitive articles such as this one to avoid the slightest perception of bias" (Calame, New York Times, 12/31/06).

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