"[Journalism] is a choice of material, whether in words or image, made in pursuit of presenting the truest and fairest, most vivid and complete representation of a situation."
Oh, really? Don't you think, Roger, that you should have told your New York Times readership over the course of your series of Iran op-eds:
- You don't speak Farsi.
- As admitted by you at Sinai Temple in Los Angeles this past March, you were accompanied in Iran by a translator hired, as required by Iran, from a government "agency".
- The translator, who accompanied you to your meetings with several Jews from Esfahan, acknowledged that he was reporting back to the "agency" concerning these meetings.
- The persons being interviewed could well have been intimidated by the presence of this translator.
You didn't tell us whether these meetings were prearranged by the Iranian government "agency". At a minimum, you should have informed your readership in your op-ed, "What Iran's Jews Say", of the presence of the translator and his "affiliation".
Perhaps "What Iran's Jews Say" was "vivid", but was it "true", "fair" and a "complete representation of a situation"?
Worth noting that although I was promised an answer from the office of the Public Editor of The New York Times concerning whether Cohen's "What Iran's Jews Say" was in keeping with The Times' ethical guidelines (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2009/06/was-roger-cohens-what-irans-jews-say-in_17.html), I have yet to hear back, after six months, from Clark Hoyt.
Are things always so slow in your department, Clark, or is it just something you prefer not to touch?
Worth noting that although I was promised YOU WERE "PROMISED"
ReplyDeleteNOTHING.....an answer from the office of the Public Editor of The New
York Times concerning whether Cohen's "What Iran's Jews Say" was in
keeping with The Times' ethical guidelines (see:
http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2009/06/was-roger-cohens-what-irans-jews-say-in_17.html),
I have yet to hear back, after six months, from Clark Hoyt. THEY DO
NOT ANSWER THOSE KINDS OF LETTERS. ASK ME WHY? I know the TIMES from A
to z
Are things always so slow in your department, Clark, or is it just
something you prefer not to touch? NOT SLOW< THIS IS HOW THEY
OPERATE....... HE GETS 5000 letters a week, you expect him to answer
them all.? NO WAY JEFFREY
but your response to the twitter piece was right on sir. you are 1`0000000% right about all this. But do not expect the Times to ever apologize or explain, they are ABOVE that.....SIGh
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dan.
ReplyDeleteRe Clark Hoyt, I received personal e-mails from his staff and from him. Also, I corresponded with someone very senior at The Times concerning this problem. If I had to guess, there were repercussions, although I will never be informed of them.