Truthdigger of the Week: Ali Abunimah

Posted on Sep 1, 2012

Salaam Shalom (CC BY 2.0)

Ali Abunimah.

By Alexander Reed Kelly

(Page 2)

“Joshua Trevino wrote a piece for The Guardian on February 28, 2011, titled ‘[New York Republican Representative] Peter King has hearings, but is he listening?’ The Guardian recently learned that shortly before writing this article the author was a consultant for an agency that had Malaysian business interests and that he ran a website called Malaysia Matters. In keeping with the Guardian’s editorial code this should have been disclosed,” the announcement read. 

“ ‘Under our guidelines, the relationship between Joshua and the agency should have been disclosed before the piece was published in order to give full clarity to our readers,’ said Janine Gibson, editor-in-chief, Guardian U.S.”

The joint statement continues with a quote from Trevino: “I vigorously affirm that nothing unethical was done and I have been open with The Guardian in this matter. Nevertheless, The Guardian’s guidelines are necessarily broad, and I agree that they must be respected as such.”

The announcement ends by saying, “We have therefore mutually agreed to go our separate ways and wish each other the best of luck.”

The paper fell short of firing Trevino on the grounds of his belligerent excretions. But Abunimah—and untold numbers of Guardian readers—got the result they wanted: the ejection of a “paid political consultant and ideologue for hire” from editorial pages beloved for championing the interests of humans everywhere in the long-standing tradition of political liberalism. For serving as a steadfast guardian of that charge, we honor Ali Abunimah as our Truthdigger of the Week.

A small cheer should also be given to the editors of The Guardian, who respected the people who challenged and informed them. One wishes many American news outlets would follow suit.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly. Follow him on Twitter: @areedkelly.

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