Panel Won't Pull N.Y. Times 1932 Pulitzer

AP via Lycos.com ^ | 11/21/2003

[GeneD]

NEW YORK (AP) -- The 1932 Pulitzer Prize awarded to a New York Times reporter accused of deliberately ignoring the forced famine in Ukraine will not be revoked, an administrator for the journalism awards said Friday.

"The board determined that there was not clear and convincing evidence of deliberate deception, the relevant standard in this case," Pulitzer administrator Sig Gissler said in a statement.

A review of Walter Duranty's work was launched in April by a Pulitzer subcommittee.

The review came amid complaints that Duranty's reports intentionally made no mention of the Soviet Union's forced famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933 that killed as many as 7 million people. Josef Stalin's regime created the famine to force Ukrainian peasants into surrendering their land.

Complaints to the Pulitzer committee had come from Ukrainians worldwide.

Gissler's statement pointed out that the award was given for 13 articles that were written and published during 1931 -- before the famine.

Duranty covered the Soviet Union for the Times from 1922 to 1941, earning acclaim for an exclusive 1929 interview with Stalin.

But Duranty eventually was exposed for reporting the Communist line rather than the facts. According to the 1990 book "Stalin's Apologist," Duranty knew of the famine but ignored the atrocities to preserve his access to Stalin.

The Times has distanced itself from Duranty's work. The reporter's 1932 Pulitzer is displayed with this caveat: "Other writers in the Times and elsewhere have discredited this coverage."

In the 86-year history of the awards, no Pulitzer has ever been revoked.

[martin_fierro]

GRRRRRRRRRR

[pogo101]

As the Pulitzer gets less and less worth winning.

[expatpat]

Surprise, surprise! One lefty organization refuses to revoke an award to a lefty reporter for a lefty newspaper.

[MainFrame65]

This is truly hilarious. If there was no deliberate deception, then BY DEFINITION there was gross ignorance and a complete failure of the primary task of journalism, INVESTIGATING AND REPORTING THE FACTS.

These idiots just hoisted their own butts up the flagpole!

[Cicero]

This action won't improve any of their reputations. They would have been wiser to choose the other route, admit their error, and take a little short-term flak. Now the stench will linger.

The New York Times has a close relationship with Columbia University and the Columbia School of Journalism, which oversee the Pulitzer Prize. The Sulzberger family are Columbia alumni and Columbia donors.

It all amounts to an incestuous little group of leftists who take turns awarding each other the prize.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Communists never admit wrongdoing, no matter what the evidence. It's about the ideology, not the facts.

If this guy was a proven Soviet agent who merely copied press releases from his KGB masters, the response from modern communists (progressives) would be the same.

Look at the way CNN shilled for Baathists in the past decade. After being exposed and admitting it, they thumbed their nose and were not held to account by the rest of the media establishment.

[Bubba_Leroy]

Duranty knew of the famine but ignored the atrocities to preserve his access to Stalin

Sounds just like CNN in Iraq, doesn't it?

[Congressman Billybob]

Let me translate this result. "Because the Pulitzer Committees are scared to death of an adverse reaction from the New York Times, we are not about to allow 8 million Ukrainian deaths to cause us to revoke a Times Pulitzer Prize. Better we should cover ourselves with embarrassment than incur the wrath of the gods (excuse me, editors) at the Times."

Did I miss anything?

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Double Crossing at the Rio Grande," discussion thread. IF YOU WANT A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

[Onelifetogive]

The 1932 Pulitzer Prize awarded to a New York Times reporter accused of deliberately ignoring the forced famine in Ukraine will not be revoked, an administrator for the journalism awards said Friday.

It's not like the 7 million people were starved for no good reason...I was to advance leftists. I mean...what's 7 million people compared to that???

[jimbo123]

Sig Gissler

sg138@columbia.edu

http://www.columbia.edu/~sg138/

Administrator, Pulitzer Prizes
Journalism professor, Columbia University
Specialist in race and media ethics
Teacher of the year, 1998
Presidential Teaching Award, 2002
Founder, Workshops on Journalism, Race & Ethnicity
Former editor, The Milwaukee Journal
Senior fellow, Media Studies Center, 1994
Journalism fellow, Stanford University, 1976

Sig Gissler, award-winning journalist and former editor of The Milwaukee Journal, is the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and an associate professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. Since joining the faculty in 1994, he has taught reporting and writing. He also created a 15-week seminar on coverage of race and ethnic issues in urban America and taught it for eight years, ending in 2002. He served as the school's academic dean from January to July, 1997, and in 1998 was voted "distinguished teacher of the year" by the school's students. In 1999, under the banner of "Let's Do It Better," Gissler founded the school's Workshops on Journalism, Race & Ethnicity for news media professionals, raising more than $1 million in Ford Foundation support and serving as the workshop director for two years. In 2002, he was named to his Pulitzer post and also received a Presidential Teaching Award, one of five out of 300 Columbia professors nominated.

Born and reared in Chicago, Gissler has worked as a reporter, editorial writer, editor and senior newspaper executive. He holds a degree in American civilization from Lake Forest College and did graduate work in political science at Northwestern University.


Gissler in race seminar
Gissler joined The Milwaukee Journal in 1967, after serving as executive editor of the Waukegan (Ill.) News-Sun. In 1975, he was awarded a journalism fellowship at Stanford University, returning to The Journal to become editorial page editor. He was appointed editor of the paper in 1985. Eight years later, after completing a 26-year career at The Journal, Gissler was named a senior fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center where he conducted an extensive analysis of media coverage of racial issues in America.

hile editor of The Journal, Gissler increased newsroom diversity and in 1991 launched a year-long examination of racial issues in Milwaukee. He also organized a community forum on inner city unemployment that led to increased minority hiring by major companies. As a journalist, Gissler was wide ranging. He covered five national political conventions and undertook major foreign reporting assignments, from India to Latin America to the former USSR.


Gissler is a member of the International Press Institute and the American Society of Newspaper Editors, serving on ASNE committees on diversity and on journalism education. A former Pulitzer Prize juror, he was named Wisconsin "publisher of the year" in 1987, 1991 and 1992, and has won numerous awards for editorial writing and reporting. He was an adviser to the Poynter Institute’s "Diversity Beyond 2000" project on race and journalism.


Gissler was a visiting professor at Stanford University in the summer of 1993 and was awarded a teaching fellowship at Indiana University in 1994. Gissler has lectured widely on media issues and challenges, often focusing on the First Amendment, journalism ethics, newsroom diversity and the coverage of race and ethnicity. In 1997, he addressed an international conference looking "Beyond Racism," sponsored by the Southern Education Foundation. He served as a consultant to an NBC News project on race relations and has appeared on radio and television programs to discuss ethical issues and coverage of minority communities. He has contributed to journalism publications and other periodicals and is working on a book about the interplay of race and media.

[MEG33]

The NYT should have renounced it in no uncertain times.They and the Pulitzer Board are weasels.

[nopardons]

Hell, damn, and blast! ( about the only thing I can get away with posting, re my feeling on this, to FR .)

Oh well, this is NOT going to go away and perhaps someday, it'll get brought up again and then, finally be pulled. :-(

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I think you've got it.

[Arkinsaw]

"Other writers in the Times and elsewhere have discredited this coverage."

This is a good thing, we can now continue to point this out as a reason not to put much weight on the Pulitzer Prize and that you shouldn't believe everything in the NYT.

[Tacis]

Not a bad decision, really.

The millions of deaths caused by Duranty, the New York Times and American communists from the early 30s up to today can never be reversed. This prize is an eternal reminder of the criminality of the ultra-left wing media in this country.

But, those conservatives of principle who urged that the record of the NYT be cleansed, I believe, overlook the mean spirited pettiness (see: dem plots against those desiring to bring Willie to justice) of the dems and other neocommunists. Once history can be rewrittem, the left's efforts to erase the accomplishments of Nixon, Reagan and Bush come out of the sewer and back rooms and become overt.

The effort to rewrite history for years to come will be in the sleazy dem court as they try to make folks believe that Wilie wasn't a filthy corrupt individual and that they, who lied for him every time, weren't just as guilty.

[MEG33]

I would like to see previous winners petition the Board to have Duranty's prize rescinded in order to maintain the integrity of the Pulitzer....(I can dream)Perhaps the integrity of the prize is questionable and no one wants to closely examine the process anyway.Could it be like the now infamous awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize?

[Tribune7]

ping

[jimbo123]

Contact Information

The Pulitzer Prizes
Columbia University
709 Journalism Building
2950 Broadway
New York, NY USA 10027

Voice: (212) 854-3841
Fax: (212) 854-3342
Email: pulitzer@www.pulitzer.org
Web: http://www.pulitzer.org/

[The Iguana]

Maybe he deceived himself?