AP freelancer says report of rebel chemical weapons use not hers (updated)

[ProSense]

Last edited Sat Sep 21, 2013, 09:05 PM - Edit history (1)

AP freelancer says report of rebel chemical weapons use not hers

By Mitchell Prothero

BEIRUT — A freelance contributor to the Associated Press whose byline appeared on a controversial story that alleged Syrian rebels had gassed themselves in an accident told McClatchy on Saturday that she did not write the article and has been seeking to have her name removed from it since it was published by a small Minnesota-based website.

Dale Gavlak, a long time contributor from the Middle East to for AP, released an email statement to McClatchy and several blogs denying any role in reporting the story, which was published Aug. 29 by Mint Press News, which describes itself with the phrase “independent advocacy journalism.” The article carried her byline along with that of Yahya Ababneh, a Jordanian Arab-language journalist.

The story likely would have gone unnoticed in pre-Internet days. But thanks to social media such as Twitter and Facebook, it’s become a crucial piece of evidence for those arguing that the rebels, not the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, were most likely responsible for an Aug. 21 chemical attack...Gavlak, whose AP connection is often held up as evidence of the reliability of the Mint Press story, confirmed the statement and described a timeline in which she had been trying for weeks to get Mint Press to remove her name from the story. Gavlak referenced her emailed statement in the interview, saying she could not go much beyond it for legal reasons.... Gavlak and at least one other contributor to Mint News have ended their relationships with the website, which was founded nearly two years ago by Mnar Muhawesh, who is in her mid 20s.

<...>

Gavlak produced a series of emails detailing her unsuccessful attempt to have Mint News either clarify the article’s background or remove it from the site. The emails begin almost immediately after publication of the story on Aug. 29th and continued through the weekend until Sept. 2...Gavlak admits to helping Ababneh convert his Arabic reporting into English – reads “Pls find the Syria story I mentioned uploaded on Google Docs. This should go under Yahya Ababneh’s byline. I helped him write up his story but he should get all the credit for this.”

- more -

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/21/202832/ap-freelancer-says-report-of-rebel.html

Retraction and Apology to Our Readers for Mint Press Article on Syria Gas Attack
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023702455


Updated to add:

By Mnar Muhawesh, executive director and editor at large for MintPress News

Statement:

Thank you for reaching out to me in regards to statements made by Dale Gavlak alleging MintPress for incorrectly attributing our exclusive report titled: “Syrians in Goutha claim Saudi-supplied rebels behind chemical attacks.”Gavlak pitched this story to MintPress on August 28th and informed her editors and myself that her colleague Yahya Ababneh was on the ground in Syria. She said Ababneh conducted interviews with rebels, their family members, Ghouta residents and doctors that informed him through various interviews that the Saudis had supplied the rebels with chemical weapons and that rebel fighters handled the weapons improperly setting off the explosions.

When Yahya had returned and shared the information with her, she stated that she confirmed with several colleagues and Jordanian government officials that the Saudis have been supplying rebels with chemical weapons, but as her email states, she says they refused to go on the record.

Gavlak wrote the article in it’s entirety as well as conducted the research. She filed her article on August 29th and was published on the same day.

Dale is under mounting pressure for writing this article by third parties. She notified MintPress editors and myself on August 30th and 31st via email and phone call, that third parties were placing immense amounts of pressure on her over the article and were threatening to end her career over it. She went on to tell us that she believes this third party was under pressure from the head of the Saudi Intelligence Prince Bandar himself, who is alleged in the article of supplying the rebels with chemical weapons.

- more -

http://www.mintpressnews.com/official-statement-on-dale-gavlaks-involvement-in-syria-exclusive/169507/

WTF?

[jakeXT]

1. If you help someone to write it, are you an editor or more ? /nt

[ProSense]

2. The article claimed Gavlak

"researched and wrote" the piece. From Gavlak's statement:

I did not travel to Syria, have any discussions with Syrian rebels, or do any other reporting on which the article is based. The article is not based on my personal observations and should not be given credence based on my journalistic reputation. Also, it is false and misleading to attribute comments made in the story as if they were my own statements.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023702455

[jakeXT]

3. It said collaboration not reasearch

By Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh


This article is a collaboration between Dale Gavlak reporting for Mint Press News (also of the Associated Press) and Yahya Ababneh.

http://web.archive.org/web/20130830152123/http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/

[ProSense]

6. That states "reporting." n/t

[DevonRex]

4. She says, " Yahya Ababneh is the sole reporter and author of the Mint Press News piece." She did not

write any of it. She had nothing whatever to do with it. She disavows it completely. Thus the demand for retraction and apology.

[jakeXT]

5. nothing?

The initial email detailing the filing of the story – Gavlak admits to helping Ababneh convert his Arabic reporting into English – reads “Pls find the Syria story I mentioned uploaded on Google Docs. This should go under Yahya Ababneh’s byline. I helped him write up his story but he should get all the credit for this.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/09/21/202832/ap-freelancer-says-report-of-rebel.html#storylink=cpy

[ProSense]

7. Kick!

Bizarre!

[Andy823]

8. K&R nt

[Scurrilous]

9. Thanks ProSense.

K & R