[Reader-list] New York Times bars free-lancer who created composite character

[Sopan Joshi]

New York Times bars free-lancer who created composite
character

Friday, February 22, 2002

NEW YORK (AP) — A free-lance writer under contract to
The New York Times Magazine was barred from writing
articles for the newspaper after he acknowledged
creating a composite character in a story last year
about child labor in Africa. 

Michael Finkel conceded Feb. 21 he misrepresented the
experiences of the title character in a Nov. 18
magazine piece called "Is Youssouf Male a Slave?" But
he maintained his report accurately reflected the
lives of thousands of West African youths who sell
themselves into service on Ivory Coast cocoa
plantations. 

"Youssouf Male is a real person and I interviewed him,
and most of the scenes in that article are based on
his experience. But many are based on the experiences
of others very much like him," Finkel told The
Associated Press in a telephone interview from his
home in Bozeman, Mont. 

"In order to tell a very complex story in a way that
is compelling to read, I made the wrong decision to
put together several accounts that were told to me by
these young workers and I combined them into one
representative voice," he said. 

In an editor's note in Feb. 21 editions, the Times
said notes from Finkel's three weeks of reporting
"reveal that contrary to the description of Youssouf
Male's year of work at the plantation, he spent less
than a month there before running away. ... Many facts
were extrapolated from what he learned was typical of
boys on such journeys, and did not apply specifically
to any single individual." 

Times editors questioned the veracity of Finkel's
story after the author notified the newspaper Feb. 13
that a photograph he had taken of a boy, published
without a caption, was not a picture of Male. 

Save the Children, one of two human rights
organizations cited in the story as helping the boy
return home, had contacted Finkel, saying it had
located the boy in the photo and identified him as
Madou Traore, the newspaper said. 

Further investigation of Finkel's notes showed the
article's description of Male's return home was
actually Traore's experience, the Times said. 

Times spokesman Toby Usnik said Finkel, who has
written eight other articles for the Sunday magazine,
failed to provide a "satisfactory explanation" for
what Usnik termed "misrepresentations" and
"falsifications." 

While editors had no evidence of any problems with
other stories by Finkel, "we remain open to further
investigation if we come upon information to the
contrary," Usnik said. 

Finkel told the AP the problems with the Male story
were unique. 

"I've never used that (technique) before. I have not
used it in my articles since, and I never plan to use
it again," he said. 

In its editor's note, the Times noted that when the
magazine's fact-checkers are unsuccessful in
contacting some of a story's principal sources, as in
this case, the magazine "relies heavily on the
author's account." 

Finkel said his other eight articles were
"fact-checked scrupulously." 

Finkel, 33, won a Livingston Award for international
reporting for a June 2000 Times Magazine piece,
"Desperate Passage," which recounted the story of
Haitian emigrants from their perspective. 

Charles Eisendrath, director of the awards program,
said Finkel's entry would now be reviewed, but that
"we have no reason to believe there's any problem." 

Finkel's work for the magazine included a Feb. 17
cover article about a community stranded by war and
starvation in Afghanistan. The Times said the magazine
was printed before it knew about the problems with the
Male story. 

Finkel has written one book — "Alpine Circus," a
compilation of stories about skiing — and has
contributed to several magazines over his 12-year
career, including National Geographic Adventure,
Atlantic Monthly, Sports Illustrated and Rolling
Stone. 

National Geographic Adventure has published four
pieces by Finkel, said Caryn Davidson, a spokeswoman
for the magazine. "We have no questions about our
pieces," she said. 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Everything you'll ever need on one web page
from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
http://uk.my.yahoo.com