New York Times admits ‘ISIS Caliphate’ podcast was ‘based off interviews with a con artist’ Invalid Date, THE New York Times has admitted that the "ISIS Caliphate" podcast was "based off of interviews with a con artist". The media giant said on Friday it could not verify the claims of a Canadian man who supposedly committed atrocities for ISIS in Syria. 3 The NYT said that that they were unable to verify the claims of a Canadian man who supposedly committed crimes for ISIS The series, which had won a Peabody Award and was a Pulitzer-Prize nominee, was branded as an "institutional failure", executive editor Dean Baquet said.