NOVANEWS
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, when asked in an MSNBC interview (Morning Joe, 9/8/16) what he would do about the battle raging over the Syrian city of Aleppo, responded, “What is Aleppo?”
That’s troubling, that a presidential candidate would be unaware of one of the main battlefields in one of the world’s deadliest conflicts. But even more troubling is that the New York Times, the US paper of record, can’t seem to figure out what Aleppo is, either.
As FAIR contributor Ben Norton noted in a piece for Salon (9/8/16), theTimes‘ Alan Rappeport (9/8/16) wrote a piece about Johnson’s gaffe that described Aleppo as “the de facto capital of the Islamic State,” or ISIS. That’s wrong; the de facto capital of ISIS is Raqqa, a city halfway across Syria from Aleppo.
This was then changed in an edit to describe Aleppo as “a stronghold of the Islamic State.” That’s also wrong; the main rebel faction in Aleppo is Jabhat al-Nusra, better known as the Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria—a bitter rival of ISIS. ISIS itself has little presence in the city.
The New York Times‘ embarrassing correction of an embarrassing correction.
The New York Times ran a correction on its misidentification of Aleppo. But then it had to run a correction on the correction—because the first correction misidentified Aleppo as the capital of Syria. The actual capital of Syria is Damascus.
If history and the polls are any guide, Gary Johnson will probably not be elected president in November. But the New York Times is and will likely continue to be the country’s most influential newspaper—so its gaps in knowledge are far more worrisome.
One thought on “‘What Is Aleppo?’ Asks Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson–and NYT Gives Three Wrong Answers”
Why do you exclude the actual wording/quote of the question Johnson was asked by Mike Barnicle; “What would you do if elected, about Aleppo?”
Instead, (although you do not have it in “quotes”, your wording makes it appear as though he was asked; what he would do about the battle raging over the Syrian city of Aleppo.
There was no mention of “the battle raging over the Syrian city of Aleppo” in Barnicle’s question. I’m not a Johnson supporter, but I have to wonder why (as at FAIR.org) you can’t even include the actual question asked. I guess you commonly run-low of digital ink?