Scrivener.net

Sunday, January 30, 2005

The New York Times' apology of the week.

The Times's Larry Rohter recently wrote a very negative article on Chile's privatized social security program that has raised a bit of controversy, being described by some as a hit piece, and which has been deconstructed elsewhere. But enough of social secrurity!

The NY Post happily reports some of Mr. Rohter's other recent adventures in journalism...

N. Y. Times Makes Big Fat Mistake

The New York Times is in hot water again. On Jan. 13, the paper ran a story by Larry Rohter on the spread of obesity and illustrated the story with pictures snapped by freelance photographer John Maier on the fabled Ipanema Beach in Brazil.

The only problem, the "fat" Brazilians depicted in the photos weren't Brazilians at all, but were visiting European tourists...

Rohter was reportedly already out of favor with the Brazilian government for a story that discussed the drinking habits of the country's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The government wanted to boot him from the country and yank his press credentials, but were stymied because he is married to a Brazilian. The Brazilian Supreme Court overruled the administration.

In yesterday's story in O Globo, in Rio de Janeiro, one of the women in the photo, Milena Suchoparkova said she was born in the Czech Republic and holds an Italian passport. She visits Brazil for a few months each year.

And she says she is outraged that she was depicted as a fat Brazilian. She calls the reporter Rohter and the photographer Maier "cretins."

She said when she gets back to Prague she plans to hire a lawyer to sue to The Times...

A spokesperson for The Times said it has confidence in Rohter's reporting but plans to apologize...
The Times wouldn't be half as much fun without the Post.