Susan Chira, New York Times Foreign Editor, confirms, excuses Bronner's conflict of interest

(L-R) Times Foreign Editor Susan Chira, Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner

Responding to an inquiry from If Americans Knew, New York Times foreign desk staffer Kyle Crichton confirmed that the son of the Times' Jerusalem Bureau chief is in the Israeli army.

When queried about this seeming conflict of interest, Chrichton referenced a statement by Times Foreign Editor Susan Chira, who declined to come on the phone.

Chira's statement, issued to Electronic Intifada yesterday in response to EI's query as to whether Bronner's son was in the Israeli military, reads:

“Ethan Bronner referred your query to me, the foreign editor. Here is my comment: Mr. Bronner’s son is a young adult who makes his own decisions. At The Times, we have found Mr. Bronner’s coverage to be scrupulously fair and we are confident that will continue to be the case.”

When asked about the Times' ethics policy, in which even a family member's bumper sticker could be considered a conflict problem, Chrichton said he could not comment and conveyed Chira's statement that she would not say anything further on the topic.

Chira was also asked by way of Chrichton whether Bronner had divulged this potential conflict of interest to the Times ahead of time, as required by Times' ethics guidelines. Chira refused to answer.

Times' guidelines state that in serious breaches, "the staff member may have to withdraw from certain coverage. Sometimes an assignment may have to be modified or a beat changed."

Yesterday, If Americans Knew posted a blog entry on the situation discussing the organization's studies of the New York Times, which had found considerable pro-Israel distortion.

In addition the post revealed that Bronner had said that there were not enough competent Arab/Muslim American journalists to balance the 2-3 Jewish journalists covering Israel-Palestine, despite the fact that Arab-American and Muslim-American journalists have won such journalism awards as the Pulitzer Prize.

Bronner's situation was originally broken by the Electronic Intifada, which said that it had indirect information that Bronner's son was in the Israeli military.