www.directactionnetwork.org or nyc-dan at riseup.net.
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Our demo at the New York Times today, protesting their claim that Seattle protesters "hurled Molotov cocktails, rocks, and excrement at delgates and police officers", was a success! We had excellent turnout (considering the extremely short notice), lots of energy, and great tools (signs, chants, leaflet). And the Times factual screw-up was so outrageous that our publicizing it at their front door caused them a certain amount of embarrassment.
A representative of the Times apologized to us (their word) over the phone for their mistake, and promised a retraction. More importantly, I think we demonstrated our unwillingness to accept this kind of shoddy treatment from the Times, and just possibly may cause them to be a bit more careful in the future. And, personally, after enduring so much slanted writing from the Times I found it extremely rewarding to do something beyond just writing another letter to the editor!
Following is the text of the leaflet we handed out:
CAN THE NEW YORK TIMES TELL FACT FROM FICTION?
Yesterday's New York Times (Sunday, June 4) contains a truly outrageous slur against the Direct Action Network and the growing movement opposing corporate globalization. In a page 16 article headlined "Police Brace for Protests in Windsor and Detroit", NYT reporter Nichole M. Christian includes the following unattributed statement about last November's WTO protest in Seattle:
"In [the Seattle] protest, demonstrators, some wearing gas masks, hurled Molotov cocktails, rocks, and excrement at delegates and police officers."
During and after the Seattle demonstrations, even the mainstream media (including the New York Times itself) did not report a single case of violence by the protesters against any person, including conference delegates and police officers -- never mind protesters hurling Molotov cocktails. While there were a few shop windows broken in Seattle, there was no violence against living beings on the part of the protesters.
In fact, the only violence against people in Seattle was committed by the Seattle Police Department, which repeatedly clubbed, tear-gassed, and pepper-sprayed peaceful, often seated, protesters (and occasionally confused bystanders) in what can properly be termed a police riot. The mainstream press reported 30 injured protesters -- and ZERO injured police officers. What does that tell one?
Does the New York Times bother to fact check its own articles? Did anyone think to check Ms. Christian's article against the New York Times' own reports of the Seattle events?
And is this 'mistake' completely unrelated to the New York Times editorial board's unremitting hostility to the anti-corporate globalization movement? At the time of the protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Washington DC last April, the Times printed FIVE op-ed pieces lambasting the protesters. Yet they refused to print a single column by those who wished to present the protesters' point of view although such columns were repeatedly offered. (This odd imbalance was the subject of an ad run by the media watchdog group TomPaine.com on the Times' editorial page.)
Yesterday's Times article serves to create an atmosphere of hysteria and fear, and assists ongoing police attempts to demonize the protest movement. Both the police and the Times are equating opposition to corporate rule with violence.
We demand that Joseph Lelyveld, New York Times Executive Editor, meet with us to discuss possible remedies. If you would like to share your concern about these issues with the Times, please send an email to letters at nytimes.com or fax (212) 556-3622. If you would like more information about the Times' grossly unbalanced coverage of free-trade and corporate power issues, visit www.fair.org/issues-news/imf-worldbank.htm. If you would like to know more about us, please call 212-358-3966, visitwww.directactionnetwork.org or write us at nyc-dan at riseup.net.
NYC Direct Action Network June 5th, 2000
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