WHAT A HEEL!: Just Who Is The One With The Conflict Of Interest At The Los Angeles Times?: Part III
It’s been roughly two weeks and coverage of the ongoing dispute between Los Angeles Times staff writer Michael Arax and Managing Editor Doug Frantz over an article about H.Res.106 (the "Armenian Genocide Resolution") is still pretty much confined to alternative media: FAIR, fishbowlLA, LA Observed, LA Weekly, LA Voice, Romenesko, Take Back The Times, MediaChannel and this blog.
But Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp, MediaWatch’s Jon Friedman, the WaPo’s Howard Kurtz and others who cover the media beat have yet to take notice. The Stiletto wonders whether the charges and countercharges of bias being hurled by Arax and Frantz would have gotten more play in the MSM had Arax been, say, Hispanic and accused of having an open borders bias that made him incapable of fair and balanced coverage of the May Day protests in LA. Their history of persecution and near-extermination notwithstanding, Armenians are not a protected class, so Arax’s discrimination complaint has thus far not been deemed worthy of coverage by the MSM.
Or maybe, just maybe, Strupp, Friedman, Kurtz and other media critics are doing an in-depth investigation into Doug Frant’z career and are preparing hard-hitting exposés that answer such questions as:
† Whether Frantz’s coverage of the Armenian genocide as The New York Times’ man in Istanbul – which parroted the Turkish government’s position – renders his accusation of bias against Arax highly suspect.
† Whether the social relationships Frantz developed with high-ranking officials within the Turkish government during his years living in Istanbul either influence his opinions about the Armenian Genocide, or predispose him to further the interests of the Turkish government.
† Why the Los Angeles Times is sending Frantz back to his beloved Istanbul on its own dime to moderate a panel discussion for the International Press Institute’s World Congress that includes Armenian Genocide denier Andrew Mango.
(Sigh!) A girl can always hope …
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