This letter serves to address the reasons behind the corrections that were made to the following article, “‘OPT OUT OF THE CFS,’ URGE JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS.”
It was brought to our attention that the writer of the original article had previous connections to some of the organizations and sources interviewed. These facts were not made clear to the editor who assigned the article throughout the processing of writing. Nevertheless, this represents a conflict of interest.
Additionally, a source that was contacted and included at the bottom of the article was interviewed by a different reporter, and not the author of the original article. This fact should have been noted in the original article.
Adding this source was not enough to have a fairly reported article and remove any bias which may have existed. More should have been done to include sources from the other side of the argument being made in the article.
The editor has made changes to the article to reflect these concerns. These include adding further information on the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement, adding an editor’s note to the original article online and printing an editor’s note in print, and providing the concerned party an opportunity to write an opinion piece in response to this article.
The Charlatan regrets these errors.
