The New York Times, close to Democrats who are expected to face a heavy defeat in next month’s midterm elections, published its report on September 16, citing what it called four informed sources that the Supreme Leader had fallen ill.
That was immediately proved to be wrong on September 17 when Ayatollah Khamenei took part in an Arbaeen mourning ceremony held by a group of students in Tehran and addressed participants.
A day later, IRNA also published a report that outlined reasons showing the NY Times claims had been fake.
Despite all that, the American newspaper, instead of apologizing to its readers for misleading them by relying on uninformed sources, shared a twitter post defending its report and once again ruining its reputation.
On Monday, Oct. 3, Ayatollah Khamenei attended the graduation ceremony for cadets studying in the academies of Iran’s Armed Forces, making a 40-minute speech and inspecting their military parade.
Like previous similar ceremonies which the leader addressed while standing, he delivered his Monday speech in that way too, making important remarks about political and international developments, as well as the latest riots in Iran; all indicating that Ayatollah Khamenei is perfectly healthy.
Anyone watching these scenes on TV had to acknowledge that the report the New York Times had defended was nothing but a deception.
Now the question is raised that why does the New York Times, which has been active since 1851 and enjoyed a worldwide readership, defend its deception at the cost of its reputation?
Such a behavior and publishing the report about the health of the Supreme Leader can only be analyzed as part of a premeditated project which could be linked to the recent rioting in different Iranian cities.
The American newspaper has been likely involved in a project which is the result of undeniable enmity towards Iran, playing a role in measures aimed at toppling the Islamic Republic by publishing misinformation about the health of the Supreme Leader.
Therefore, even after its report was soon proved to be wrong, the newspaper tried to maintain its role by defending it, likely giving the message to rioters and separatist terrorists, as well as other enemies of Iran to continue their acts of sabotage.
A better analysis of what the New York Times has done is presented when looking at the anti-Iran measures taken by Western media as a whole in recent days.
Many of the Western media outlets, especially their Persian services, including BBC Persian, have practically turned into the mouthpiece of the rioters involved in the recent unrest in Iran, trying to magnify their actions and portray Iran as a crisis-hit country at the time when the majority of people are living their normal life.
With its latest measure, the New York Times joined such media outlets, trying to encouraging the rioters by spreading lies based on the project advanced by Democrats now in power at the White House.
The newspaper and other Western media showed that whenever their authorities deem it necessary, they are ready to sacrifice their professional rules and more important their credibility for their authorities’ demands.
Well-informed observers mostly believe that the latest project to topple the Islamic Republic, being much weaker than the previous ones, has already failed. This failure has been recorded for all those involved in the project, with the New York Times being no exception.
The newspaper, by playing in this game, decided to be on the same side that the American rulers have kept for more than 40 years now, being against the majority of the Iranian people.
Having done all of that, the New York Times has lowered the quality of its media activity to the level practiced by fake twitter accounts and vandalistic media outlets. And that’s a defeat for this leading newspaper which could have saved its reputation and honesty by apologizing for its report.
Credibility is a precious asset for any media outlet, which is weakened by spreading lies and is destroyed by defending those lies. What the New York Times has done will remain in memory of its readers, both Iranians and Americans.
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