The irresistibility of attacking Hürriyet

I was about to go to bed on Monday evening, March 21, when my cellphone rang at 11:39 p.m. It was Hürriyet's Washington correspondent Tolga Tan??. He told me that businessman Reza Zarrab, a Turkish citizen of Iranian origin, had been arrested in Florida. When I asked him whether there was documentation confirming this, he told me he would send it immediately. 

Indeed, within the next minute or two, the statement from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announcing that Zarrab had been arrested on March 21 by the court after being caught in Florida on March 20, together with the text of the indictment prepared for Zarrab, was on my computer screen. To be on the safe side, I quickly Googled the names on the FBI statement and confirmed that they really were top-level managers. Zarrab's indictment corresponded one-to-one to the format of many other indictments that I had read in the U.S. before. 

There was not even the slightest doubt about the accuracy of the story. I told Tan?? to immediately proceed to Florida. 

We worked swiftly with our night staff and we were able to place this significant story in the subheading of the front page - the place it deserved - in the city editions of Hürriyet on March 22. 

Shortly after the story reached Hürriyet, the FBI statement on Zarrab began circulating on the web. The next day, dailies Habertürk, Sözcü and Cumhuriyet had the arrest story on their front pages. 

Tan?? was the first Turkish journalist to arrive in Florida for this coverage, thus he was able to obtain Zarrab's mug shot. He was also able to access new details about the investigation. We printed these stories as they were worthy of printing. For example, we learned thanks to Tan?? that the indictment had been...