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(JTA) — The Public Editor of the New York Times took the newspaper to task for failing to identify Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as a convicted murderer of Israeli Jews.

Public Editor Liz Spayd was responding to criticism of the newspaper for publishing on Sunday an Op-Ed by Barghouti titled  “Why We Are on Hunger Strike in Israel’s Prisons” and identifying him only as “a Palestinian leader and parliamentarian.” Nearly a day later, an editor’s note appended to the end of the opinion piece clarified that Barghouti is serving a lengthy prison term after being convicted in an Israeli court of five counts of murder and membership in a terrorist organization.

The publication of the article marked the beginning of a hunger strike by hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel seeking more favorable conditions.

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Failure to “more fully identify the biography and credentials of authors,” Spayd wrote, “risks the credibility of the author and the Op-Ed pages.”

“In this case, I’m pleased to see the editors responding to the complaints, and moving to correct the issue rather than resist it. Hopefully, it’s a sign that fuller disclosure will become regular practice,” Spayd wrote.

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