The New York Times' One-Scholar Consensus on Genocide

Argumentum ad verecundiam is also known as "appeal to authority," that an argument should be believed because the person making it is an expert.

An appeal to authority becomes fallacious when expertise is presented as a substitute for evidence, or when the authority's conclusion is treated as dispositive without engaging competing evidence or expert disagreement. Beyond that, it is a tacit admission that the argument itself is weak enough that the arguer must shore it up with his or her credentials.

The New York Times has used Omer Bartov for argumentum ad verecundiam four times in headlines on his op-eds in the New York Times.

I searched the New York Times Opinion archives for comparable first-person headlines built around professional authority ("I'm a...," "As a...," etc.). While doctors, economists, and other experts occasionally reference their professions, I could not find another topic in which the newspaper repeatedly made the author's credentials themselves the central persuasive device in the headline.

Genocide scholarship is not unanimous. Numerous genocide scholars, international lawyers, military law experts, and historians dispute Bartov's conclusions. Yet the Times repeatedly presents Bartov's expertise as if it settles the matter. The New York Times doesn't give those who disagree op-ed space as guest columnists, let alone a headline announcing their expertise. (Columnists like Bret Stephens have argued against the genocide accusation.) 

The New York Times repeatedly promotes one side of a highly contested scholarly and legal question by emphasizing one author's credentials rather than foregrounding the evidence or acknowledging substantial expert disagreement.

Any newspaper may occasionally highlight an author's expertise. But four separate headlines over less than three years using essentially the same rhetorical device for the same author on the same controversial issue suggest something more than coincidence. They reflect an editorial decision to encourage readers to weigh Bartov's credentials as evidence for his conclusions rather than simply presenting his arguments for evaluation.

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