Guardian Apologizes to Chomsky
Total Retraction of Emma Brockes's "No Massacre at Srebrenica" Slurs
http://www.counterpunch.com
By CounterPunch News Service
The following unusually detailed and categorical apology to Noam Chomsky appears in
The Guardian for November 17. The Guardian's "readers' editor", Ian Mayes, issues
this virtually unprecedented climb-down--in effect a savage rebuke to its reporter
Emma Brockes--after complaints by Chomsky himself and others, and by detailed
exposes, first by Alexander Cockburn and then by Diana Johnstone on this site.
The headline and text of The Guardian's retractions follow.
Corrections and clarifications
The Guardian and Noam Chomsky
Thursday November 17, 2005
The Guardian
The readers' editor has considered a number of complaints from Noam Chomsky
concerning an interview with him by Emma Brockes published in G2, the second section
of the Guardian, on October 31. He has found in favour of Professor Chomsky on three
significant complaints.
Principal among these was a statement by Ms Brockes that in referring to atrocities
committed at Srebrenica during the Bosnian war he had placed the word "massacre" in
quotation marks. This suggested, particularly when taken with other comments by Ms
Brockes, that Prof Chomsky considered the word inappropriate or that he had denied
that there had been a massacre. Prof Chomsky has been obliged to point out that he
has never said or believed any such thing. The Guardian has no evidence whatsoever
to the contrary and retracts the statement with an unreserved apology to Prof
Chomsky.
The headline used on the interview, about which Prof Chomsky also complained, added
to the misleading impression given by the treatment of the word massacre. It read:
Q: Do you regret supporting those who say the Srebrenica massacre was exaggerated?
A: My only regret is that I didn't do it strongly enough.
No question in that form was put to Prof Chomsky. This part of the interview related
to his support for Diana Johnstone (not Diane as it appeared in the published
interview) over the withdrawal of a book in which she discussed the reporting of
casualty figures in the war in former Yugoslavia. Both Prof Chomsky and Ms
Johnstone, who has also written to the Guardian, have made it clear that Prof
Chomsky's support for Ms Johnstone, made in the form of an open letter with other
signatories, related entirely to her right to freedom of speech. The Guardian also
accepts that and acknowledges that the headline was wrong and unjustified by the
text.
Ms Brockes's misrepresentation of Prof Chomsky's views on Srebrenica stemmed from
her misunderstanding of his support for Ms Johnstone. Neither Prof Chomsky nor Ms
Johnstone have ever denied the fact of the massacre.
Prof Chomsky has also objected to the juxtaposition of a letter from him, published
two days after the interview appeared, with a letter from a survivor of Omarska.
While he has every sympathy with the writer, Prof Chomsky believes that publication
was designed to undermine his position, and addressed a part of the interview which
was false. Both letters were published under the heading Falling out over
Srebrenica. At the time these letters were published, following two in support of
Prof Chomsky published the previous day, no formal complaint had been received from
him. The letters were published by the letters editor in good faith to reflect
readers' views. With hindsight it is acknowledged that the juxtaposition has
exacerbated Prof Chomsky's complaint and that is regretted. The Guardian has now
withdrawn the interview from the website.
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