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Reporter's charge of 9/11 commission censorship proven false
ERROR REPORT:"Stewardess ID 'd Hijackers Early, Transcripts Show" by Gail Sheehy
(Also published as "Is 9/11 Commission Flying Blind?" See Featurewell.com)
The New York Observer, February 16, 2004
(date listed on-line is February 12, 2004 on Featurewell)

Analysis by Rhonda Roland Shearer (with research by Ashley O'Dell)

Introduction

  
Part I Incorrect assertions and facts presented in Gail Sheehy's article
Part II Timeline for American Airlines Flight 11
Part III Transcripts and Fact Sheets
A.Transcript of Betty Ong's four minutes of words with time marks
B. Transcript of 2nd tape played at 7th public hearing on "Borders, Transportation, and Managing Risk" (January 26-27, 2004 in Washington DC) of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission.
C. Statement of Nydia Gonzalez to 9/11 Commission
D. List of facts from transcripts
    1.Facts in Ong's four minute tape recording played at 9/11 Commission hearing: A separate
       phone call recorded alongside Betty's 23-minute call (of which only four minutes were
       recorded) on 9/11. (Nydia Gonzales had two phone receivers held to her ears)
    2.Facts from 2nd tape played at 9/11 Commission hearing
    3.Facts from Nydia Gonzalez's testimony at the 9/11 Commission hearing
E. 16 incorrect passages from Gail Sheehy's article in chronological order
F. Gail Sheehy's Article (On-line version): Factual errors shown in context of: a. 16 incorrect passages; and, b. how article would appear with quotations removed (see red highlighted lines)
G. Gail Sheehy's Article (Print version): showing location on front page and the 16 incorrect passages in position at original publication (see pink and yellow highlighted lines)
Conclusion: Immediate corrections are necessary
A. Harm Done
B. Specific Recommendations
Addendum: A. The Los Angeles Times's Sept. 20, 2001 article, the first to reveal details from Sweeney's call to Woodward
B. ABC News "Prime Time:" Diane Sawyer reports Ong's tape is only "four minutes" long on July 18, 2002 (news article and transcript included)
C. Associated Press (AP) wire story, January 29, 2004 "Father finds reassurance in Sept. 11 flight tape"

 

Introduction

The Gail Sheehy article published Feb. 16, 2004 in The New York Observer (and also available for sale under an alternate title) has significant factual errors. This report excerpts and analyzes the specific text in question and provides supporting primary source materials and other references.

The conclusion suggests proper actions to be taken by Gail Sheehy and her publishers, and places these recommendations within the context of the harm induced by these errors, the journalistic ethical standards in general, and The New York Observer and Gail Sheehy, in particular.

Art Science Research Laboratory's Journalism Project

Rhonda Roland Shearer, the author of this report, is also Director of Art Science Research Laboratory. ASRL staff work with interns and graduate students, focusing on interdisciplinary research projects at Columbia, NYU and other institutions. Among our projects is an exploration of how scientific methods can be used to test and verify facts in journalism. In science, one expects that other scientists will challenge and retest your data, so one is extremely careful to build a case using facts that will withstand the fiercest winds of challenge and doubt from very smart people. Such ferocity from peers is scary at first, but you learn to love it. After these formidable minds look into your data set and conclusions (a transparency the culture demands), your ideas are deemed factually supported, and your results are proven to be repeatable, you realize: "Ah ha." This is the quality of work that I insist upon for myself and everyone else. This rigor is required for the process of science to work at its best. Being wrong and making corrections is also an expectation and part of the discipline of science. However, as in journalism, fraud, sloppiness and distortion of data threaten the entire system of trust upon which these businesses must depend. Our investigations seek to develop new methods for the analysis and production of journalism. Our goal, and the context for our research, focuses on solid ethical practices performed with transparency and public participation, rather than in closed media backrooms where decisions about fact and corrections are made.

Art Science Research Laboratory

Art Science Research Laboratory is a non-partisan; not-for-profit [501(3)(c)] founded in 1996 by the late Stephen Jay Gould and Rhonda Roland Shearer. Initially funded with a significant grant from Paul Mellon, ASRL interns from various disciplines and institutions (including PHD candidates from NYU and Columbia University) work together on research projects using multiple investigative methods from technology, science, law and history. The research outcomes are then applied to the creation of jointly authored publications, the development of educational curriculum and software, the formation of web sites, physical collections and archives. The overall institutional goal for every ASRL research project is the promotion of critical thinking and ethical practice. Other specific goals within research projects are personal and group achievement of discoveries, and the breaking of boundaries among polarized disciplines and binary concepts (such as competition versus cooperation; teaching versus research; junior versus senior or amateur versus professional scholarship; private versus public knowledge; as well as the most over-arching and dissembling "dualism," that of the arts versus the sciences).