The New York Times has returned the 2018 Peabody Award it won for the now-discredited podcast “Caliphate,” the awards institution said on Friday.
“As the standard for quality media, the integrity of the Peabody Award is paramount, and we appreciate the professional manner in which the Times has handled this matter,” Peabody Award executive director Dr. Jeffrey P. Jones said in a statement. “We will receive the return of the award, recognizing the mutual respect both organizations have for each other’s longstanding record of journalistic integrity.”
The move comes just hours after the paper finally admitted that it failed to properly scrutinize the story of a Canadian man who claimed to have joined ISIS and, among other lurid crimes, stabbed a victim in the heart and pinned his dead body to a crucifix.