UCCLA to The New York Times: do the right thing (10/19/03)

UCCLA to The New York Times: do the right thing

TORONTO - An international campaign - dubbed "Do The Right Thing" - directed to the publisher of The New York Times, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., began on October 14. Organized by the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, in collaboration with Ukrainian organizations from around the world, it hopes to persuade Mr. Sulzberger to return the 1932 Pulitzer Prize awarded to the Times' Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty.

Duranty is now widely recognized as having been a Soviet apologist who filed many misleading reports about conditions in the USSR while writing for The New York Times during the early 1930s. In particular, he has been condemned for covering up the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Soviet-occupied Ukraine.

Many millions of people perished during this politically engineered famine. That Duranty knew the truth is evident from the fact that he privately informed the British government in September 1933 that as many as 10 million people had died as a result of famine conditions during the past year. In public, however, Duranty dismissed all such reports, going even further by vilifying those journalists who reported the truth about this man-made famine.

The fourth Saturday of every November has been set aside as an official day of national mourning in Ukraine to recall this Soviet crime against humanity.

Commenting on this new campaign, UCCLA's direction of research, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, said: "In May of this year we requested that the Pulitzer Prize Committee revoke Walter Duranty's prize, given his indisputable role as Stalin's apologist, before, during and after the genocidal Great Famine. We understand that the committee is considering doing so and will announce its decision in November. Tens of thousands of people from around the world supported our first campaign and millions of Ukrainians and friends of Ukraine now await the committee's decision, trusting they will do what is right. Certainly, revoking Duranty's distinction would ensure that the Pulitzer Prize is not denigrated by being associated with the name of a self-serving apologist for mass murder."

Dr. Luciuk added: "We are now also turning to Mr. Sulzberger and asking him to return the Duranty award to the Pulitzer Prize Committee, regardless of what the latter might decide, ensuring that The New York Times, a newspaper with an international reputation for the highest standards of reporting, is not befouled by any continuing association with Walter Duranty or a prize that he did not merit, given his betrayal of the most fundamental principles of journalism."

| Home Page |