6191: RE: 6167: RE: 6147: Re: 6126: Bad US press on Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "Hoover, Julie H." <Hoover@pbworld.com>

Karen Davis is right-on in urging us to complain to the media about biased
Haiti coverage.

In the fall/early winter of 1991, our group (then Americans for Aristide)
wrote four polite but very strong letters to the top management of The New
York Times, starting with Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, expressing our extreme
disappointment with their coverage of the coup.  Each letter was highly
factual, referencing specific inaccuracies and biases in various articles
and editorials, and pointing out omissions in their coverage (failure to
interview President Aristide or anyone in his government, exclusive reliance
on information from "establishment types", etc.).  Together, the letters
totaled 16 pages.   All our communications were answered in some detail--two
by Max Frankle (then Executive Editor), one by Bernard Gwertzman (then
Foreign Editor), and one by Anthony Lewis.  More importantly, the Times'
coverage of the Haiti situation improved greatly, a top-notch supplementary
reporter was assigned to Haiti, and a series of highly-supportive editorials
were issued.  We'll never know, of course, whether our letters made a
difference but we sure like to think so.