June 24, 2005 Paper error causes Canadian readers to cry foul By URIEL HEILMAN NEW YORK This week, readers of Toronto's Globe and Mail, Canada's newspaper of record, got a different version than the rest of the world of the story of the summit meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. According to Globe and Mail reporter Carolyn Wheeler, the meeting took place in "Mr. Sharon's flag-draped residence in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City," on "disputed home turf." In fact, the meeting was held at the prime minister's private residence in the Rehavia neighborhood of the capital, where there is no dispute over sovereignty. The Globe and Mail's reporter then waxed for two paragraphs about the alleged site of the meeting: "Mr. Sharon's purchase of the stately Old City stone home in 1987, and the subsequent removal of its Arab tenants, created great controversy at the time," she wrote. "The building is now rarely used, but it is still under heavy guard and remains a stinging symbol for Palestinians struggling to hold onto Arab neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem." After outraged readers pointed out the error, the Globe and Mail issued a correction. "Obviously, it's a very embarrassing error," said the newspaper's interim foreign editor, Guy Nicholson. "We asked her for some background about where the story location was. Unfortunately, she was not actually at the scene of it. She wrote it off of television and wires." Dov Smith, executive director of HonestReporting Canada, which tracks Canadian media for anti-Israel bias in Middle East reporting, questioned how the reporter was able to describe participants in the meeting as "grim-faced"-a phrase that appeared in the article-if she wasn't actually there. "We believe Carolyn Wheeler's reporting is inconsistent with the standards that the Globe and Mail wishes to maintain," Smith said. Wheeler, a freelancer who is married to the Globe and Mail's full-time Israel correspondent, Mark McKinnon, recently moved to Israel with her husband. Nicholson said the paper is "generally very trusting with her and pleased with her work." "This was a very tangential element of the story," Nicholson said, pointing out that the error was limited to two paragraphs "very, very deep in the piece." In fact, the error also appears in the second sentence of the story, which was 16 paragraphs long. "This is such a closely watched issue that it's getting a little bit blown out of proportion, to be frank," Nicholson said. "I certainly understand the nature of why this was wrong, but we did immediately correct the error and she was mortified at having made the mistake."