[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:14662] Said Quietly and Not to be Repeated: "Times Refuses Reprint in Moore Book"

[Alfred Kagan]

>Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 13:25:32 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Ann Sparanese <sparanese at yahoo.com>
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:14662] Said Quietly and Not to be Repeated: 
>"Times Refuses Reprint in Moore Book"
>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Reply-To: srrtac-l at ala.org
>Sender: owner-srrtac-l at ala.org
>
>A gem
>
>Ann
>
>***
>
>Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that
>Doesn't Fit
>
>The New York Times - Sept 10, 2004
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/10/national/10moore.html
>
>The Times Refuses Reprint in Moore Book
>
>by Edward Wyatt
>
>The publisher of a coming book by the filmmaker
>Michael Moore said
>yesterday that The New York Times had denied
>permission for Mr. Moore
>to
>include in his book a May article in which The Times
>reviewed
>shortcomings in its own reporting about the events
>leading up to the
>war
>in Iraq.
>
>Publishing industry executives say that such denials
>are rare, and
>executives at Simon & Schuster, the publisher, said
>The Times was the
>only one of several publications it had approached to
>deny permission
>to
>reprint articles, photographs, cartoons or editorials
>in the book.
>
>In a statement, Catherine Mathis, a spokeswoman for
>The Times, said:
>"We
>strongly value The Times's neutrality in its election
>coverage and we
>are determined not to associate ourselves with any
>work in film or
>print
>that attacks either candidate. Our note, 'The Times
>and Iraq,' was not
>intended to become part of a political battle."
>
>Ms. Mathis said the decision to deny permission to
>reprint the article
>was made by Bill Keller, the executive editor of the
>newspaper, in
>conjunction with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the publisher.
>
>The book, "The Official 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Reader," is
>scheduled to be
>published next month, timed to the release of the DVD
>version of
>"Fahrenheit 9/11." The film has generated widespread
>controversy for
>its
>antiwar tenor, and critics of Mr. Moore have raised
>questions about
>some
>of the film's assertions.
>
>The book is to contain a transcript of the screenplay,
>source materials
>for assertions made in the film and critical response
>to the
>documentary, including reprints of articles, reviews
>and editorials.
>
>David Rosenthal, the publisher of the Simon & Schuster
>imprint and an
>executive vice president at Simon & Schuster Inc.,
>said that The Times
>refused to allow Mr. Moore to reprint the 1,220-word
>article, published
>May 26. The article, which carried the headline, "From
>the Editors: The
>Times and Iraq," said that in the prelude to the war
>some of the
>paper's
>coverage, especially about the issue of Iraq's
>weapons, "was not as
>rigorous as it should have been."
>
>"In some cases, information that was controversial
>then, and seems
>questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or
>allowed to stand
>unchallenged," the article stated.
>
>The article stirred considerable discussion among
>journalists and
>politicians over whether news organizations had been
>skeptical enough
>about the Bush administration's reasons for going to
>war in Iraq.
>
>Mr. Moore, in an interview, said the book did not
>attack either
>presidential candidate. The purpose of reprinting the
>Times article, he
>said, "was essentially to applaud The Times for having
>the courage to
>admit their mistakes; it had nothing to do with Bush
>or Kerry."
>
>The Times "never asked to see the rest of the book or
>asked what is in
>the book," Mr. Moore said. "They made the
>determination of what is in
>the book without having read it. I think that's pretty
>lame."
>
>Mr. Rosenthal said Simon & Schuster received
>permission to publish
>about
>two dozen items from several publications, including
>The Wall Street
>Journal, The Washington Post and The Pittsburgh
>Post-Gazette. He said
>the book would include two largely blank pages where
>the article from
>The Times was to appear.
>
>Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
>       
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu