[Peace-discuss] NYT Attacks "Border" with False Rant of Pro-Coup Reporter

[Robert Naiman]

No reasonable person would have bet serious money that news editors at
the New York Times would be huge fans of Oliver Stone's new
documentary about South America, "South of the Border." But still,
accepting that no-one likes to be criticized, there are supposed to be
rules for newspapers like the Times. News articles are supposed to be
accurate, and if a reporter has a direct interest or bias in a
situation, the paper should assign another reporter or at least
disclose the interest or bias. But on Friday, the New York Times ran
an attack on Oliver Stone's documentary by Larry Rohter. Not only was
the attack inaccurate; more importantly, the Times failed to
acknowledge the bias of Larry Rohter. Rohter covered Venezuela for the
Times during the period of the April 2002 coup in Venezuela, and
during the coup, Rohter wrote a piece for the Times claiming that the
coup was not a coup, but a popular uprising. That alone should have
disqualified Rohter from writing a piece on the film for publication
by the Times. At the very least, the paper should have acknowledged
Rohter's previous advocacy for the coup - and its own.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/nyt-attacks-border-with-f_b_627984.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/6/28/133550/168

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/631

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Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

Urge Congress to Support a Timetable for Military Withdrawal from Afghanistan
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/feingold-mcgovern

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