RADAR ALERT:
Stopping the Culture of Contempt at the NYT

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., owner and publisher of the New York Times , is one of the most influential persons in the international media. In 1992 Mr. Sulzberger announced his plan to revamp the newspaper’s editorial focus so it would no longer reflect a “predominantly white, straight male vision of events.”

Soon, we were reading articles and columns by Anna Quindlen , Natalie Angier, and later Maureen Dowd that were demeaning, derogatory, and hostile to men. That hostility was reflected in one-sided articles about domestic violence that consistently ignored male victims.

When persons began to worry about the paper’s growing anti-male tone, Sulzberger gave this arrogant response: “If white men were not complaining, it would be an indication we weren’t succeeding and making the inroads that we are.”

Now, that Culture of Contempt has spawned an article that contained this spiteful stereotype of persons who commit DV: “It’s every man and in every class of society.” [www.nytimes.com/2005/04/06/international/europe/06letter.html?pagewanted=2&8hpib ]

Despite the outpouring of e-mails, letters, and telephone calls that complained about the article, the NYT did not respond -- further proof of its Culture of Contempt.

IT’S TIME TO TURN UP THE VOLUME.

On Tuesday, RADAR asked persons to telephone the Times at 212-556-7652.

On Wednesday, we are asking persons to send their complaint to the editors and reporters at the NYT. We are requesting the NYT do these two things:

1. Retract Lizette Alvarez’s biased and inflammatory article
2. Assure objective and balanced reporting of future DV articles

Here are the e-mail addresses. Note: In case your listing of e-mail addresses gets cut off, all NYT e-mail addresses end with the letters “nytimes.com” after the “@”:

Top Executives:
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., Publisher: publisher@nytimes.com.

Scott H. Heekin-Canedy, President, General Manager: president@nytimes.com

Top Editors:
executive-editor@nytimes.com; managing-editor@nytimes.com

Editorial Page: editorial@nytimes.com.

Public Editor: public@nytimes.com

Newsroom:
news-tips@nytimes.com ; the-arts@nytimes.com ; bizday@nytimes.com ; foreign@nytimes.com ; metro@nytimes.com ; national@nytimes.com ; sports@nytimes.com ; washington@nytimes.com

And if you really want to make an impact, you can obtain an automated listing of many editors and reporters by sending a request to staff@nytimes.com . Select the editors and reporters that are most involved in reporting domestic violence, and send them your complaint.

Remember RADAR’s protest of the New York Times on Saturday, April 30 at the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009. 4:00 – 8:00pm. More information about the protest will be posted on the RADAR website.

Remember, it only takes one person to shape the course of history.

Date of RADAR Release: April 19, 2005

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R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://www.mediaradar.org