New York Times Journalist Forced To Apologize For Publishing Part of the Fake Mugabe Story That Triggered KOT’s War against Mugabe

Last week, the East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times, Jeffrey Gettleman received some clap back from KOT for using fake Mugabe quotes.

Quotes that are believed to have triggered a Twitter feud between Kenyans On Twitter and Zimbabweans on Twitter.

After receiving harsh criticism and unabashed insults form KOT, Jeffery has been forced to apologize. The Cornell University Alumnus wrote this as an apology and as an explanation:

Corruption in Kenya is real but that Mugabe quote was fake.

I want to explain what happened. A source sent me an article from the Spectator magazine that included harsh quotes from Mugabe criticizing Kenya’s corruption, which many people in Kenya and beyond say has reached an outrageous level.

The article: http://www.spectator.co.ke/…/robert-mugabe-god-should-neve…/

I emailed it to a Zimbabwean journalist in Harare to check if Mugabe had actually said those things. The Zimbabwean journalist told me that it appeared he had.

Many Kenyans, too, believed Mugabe had said those things.See this link: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-34735212

After my article was published, I started receiving messages that the Mugabe quote was fake. I looked into it immediately and contacted the Spectator and an official in the Zimbabwean government. The Spectator admitted to fabricating the story, saying that it was using satire to fight corruption.

We have amended our article, which can be found here:nytimes.com

I deeply regret the way I presented that part of the story and I’ve learned from this mistake. Unfortunately it has drawn attention away from what many believe is an alarming problem in Kenya: runaway graft. As that story revealed, Kenyan officials are believed to have stolen millions of dollars in public money through a scheme of wild purchases, like buying simple ballpoint pens for $85 each.

The Kenyatta government’s response is that it is investigating these allegations seriously.

Many Kenyans have told me that corruption is the single greatest problem in their country.