the new york times story on my boss’ relationship with pakistani presidential candidate zardari certainly caused a plethora of media calls over the last few days. the washington post followed the story the next day and so the calls continued to come in thru the next days’ news cycle. i was surprised that it was such a big deal, especially during a democratic convention. the new york times even ran it on the frontpage of the paper and above the fold!

the news media outlets who assigned reporters to the story were from around the world not just from the united states and pakistan. it is amazing how many reporters just follow the new york times and never really check out the facts for themselves. bloomberg news just ran the story without even calling us, and a number of other reporters called to ask for “the statement that was issued” rather than to ask if the story was true or not….after explaining that there was no statement issued they seemed puzzeled – they all just believe the new york times story as fact and never really challenge it. amazing.

there were also some good reporters who called to inquire about the “charge” in the new york times. we were impressed by those reporters because they seemed to start from the premise that the new york times story was an issue they should inquire aboout but not necessarily believe right away. i think that is a quality that a good reporter should have. unfortunately, it wasn’t the quality that a majority of the callers had. most reporters just ran with the story and re-told it without checking the facts.

the calls have mostly died down now – today the security council takes up the issue of russia/georgia and so most reporters are calling regarding the meeting and what to expect. i did receive a call from jasper at “foresight news” who said “i saw the new york times story and am wondering where the meeting between zardari and khalilzad will take place in dubai”? i wasn’t surprised. here was a jornalist calling about the story in the new york times but he hadn’t even read the story to know that it was about a cancelled meeting between the two!

we were told yesterday that ambassador khalilzad will come back home earlier than expected from his vacation – i am sure he will be confronted with more errorneous assumptions from reporters who don’t bother checking the facts.