In April 2017, The New York Times published an Op-Ed by “Palestinian leader and parliamentarian” Marwan Barghouti who wrote that he was serving multiple life sentences after being subjected to “a political show trial.” Liz Spayd, The Times’ public editor at the time, rebuked her paper for failing to disclose to that an Israeli court convicted Barghouti for five counts of premeditated murder and membership in a terror organization (“An Op-Ed Author Omits His Crimes, and The Times Does Too“): I have written before on the need to more fully identify the biography and credentials of authors, especially details that help people make judgments about the opinions they’re reading. Do the authors of the pieces have any conflicts of interest that could challenge their credibility? Are they who they say they are, and can editors vouch for their fidelity?