David Sirota, an aggressive politics reporter for the International Business Times, is a former aide to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, but the Times is not disclosing that, even in stories that are critical of Sanders’ chief rival, Hillary Clinton.
Since Clinton launched her campaign in mid-April, Sirota has written or co-written at least 11 stories for the Times that questioned the ethics of Clinton’s behavior as secretary of State or the dealings of her nonprofit Clinton Foundation.
One of Sirota’s biggest stories was one from May that attempted to connect foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation to preferential treatment by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is now a Democratic presidential candidate. It said former President Bill Clinton was paid handsomely to deliver a speech in Washington, D.C., in 2011 and that some of the world leaders who attended had donated to the Clinton Foundation.
Past stories by Sirota, 39, include the headlines, “Firms Paid Bill Clinton Millions As They Lobbied Hillary Clinton,” “Clinton Family Continues Raking In Personal Cash From Firms That Lobbied Hillary Clinton’s State Department” and “Clintons And Foundation Raked In Cash From Banks That Admitted Wrongdoing.”
Sirota has also authored or co-authored pieces scrutinizing some of the Republican presidential candidates, like Jeb Bush and Chris Christie. But in the current election cycle, he hasn’t written anything on Sanders’ campaign.
But none of the stories included disclosures that Sirota served as Sanders’ press secretary, when Sanders was a member of the House.
“There’s no mystery or secrecy here,” Peter S. Goodman, global editor in chief for the Times, told the Washington Examiner media desk. “All of this information is available prominently on David’s website. He worked in politics prior to his journalism career. He did indeed work for Bernie Sanders in his early 20s and he later worked for Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta. David is a first rate investigative reporter who now works for no one but the reader. His award-winning work speaks for itself and attests to his integrity.”
Sirota’s personal website does detail his past work in progressive politics and his relationship to Sanders. But Sirota has indicated in past public comments that he isn’t an impartial voice when it comes to the 2016 race.
In a message on Twitter in June, Sirota accused Clinton of “careerism.” In another tweet from 2013, he wondered whether his “old boss and friend” Sanders would run for president.
Asked if the Times does not see disclosures in stories by Sirota as necessary, even when he is personally close to one of the leading Democratic presidential candidates, Goodman said no.
“Certainly if there’s a past relationship there, it’s legitimate to ask if that’s coloring his reporting. But in the end, what we have to go on is his (Sirota’s) work and I think if you look at the totality of his body of work, you can see that this is somebody who is extremely professional and really quite ruthless in a positive sense in pushing aside any distractions.”
Goodman also said that, if he wanted to, Sirota could cover the Sanders campaign.
“I have complete confidence he’ll do that story as a professional,” said Goodman.
