Millions downloaded ‘Caliphate,’ a 2018 ‘NY Times’ podcast that was based on a hoax — and the paper keeps downplaying its malpractice.

An award-winning breathless New York Times podcast about Islamic Jihadism that was downloaded millions of times in 2018 turns out to have been based on a fraudulent liar — but so far the paper and its reporter, Rukmini Callimachi, have declined to fully acknowledge their error.