Wiki --> Walter Duranty (25 May 1884 – 3 October 1957) was an Anglo-American journalist who served as Moscow bureau chief of The New York Times for fourteen years (1922–1936) following the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War (1918–1921). In 1932, Duranty received a Pulitzer Prize for a series of reports about the Soviet Union, eleven of which were published in June 1931. He was later castigated for his subsequent denial of, and thereby exacerbation of, widespread famine (1932–1933) in the USSR, most particularly the famine in Ukraine. Years later, there continue to be calls to revoke his Pulitzer, which to this day has still not happened. In 1990, The New York Times, which had submitted his works for the prize in 1932, wrote that his later articles denying the famine constituted "some of the worst reporting to appear in this newspaper".And...Duranty's motivations have been hotly debated and his reporting is faulted for being too uncritical of the USSR, presenting Soviet propaganda as legitimate reporting.
In 1933, Stalin rewarded [Duranty's] praise and appreciation by saying that Duranty tried "to tell the truth about our country".
The National Interest --> Duranty, who was the Times’ Moscow bureau chief, wrote a series of glowing pieces about the USSR’s policies under General Secretary Josef Stalin in 1931.While millions of people were starving in Ukraine, Duranty reported back that things were going swimmingly under the communist regime despite a few bumps in the road. “Enemies and foreign critics can say what they please,” Duranty wrote. “Weaklings and despondents at home may groan under the burden, but the youth and strength of the Russian people is essentially at one with the Kremlin’s program, believes it worthwhile and supports it, however hard be the sledding.” He attacked reports that portrayed the Soviet policies in a negative light as “malignant propaganda.”
Agree.
“I keep wondering why the NY Times is quoted so often, and often quoted as the ‘paper of record’.”
I wonder about that myself.
I think it is because in order to navigate our way through life, we need to know two things:
1) we need to know the truth, regardless of what everyone around us believes, and..
2) we need to know what everyone around us believes, even if it’s wrong.
For example, in order to proceed safely through an intersection we must pay attention to two things:
1) whether we have right of way, and..
2) what other drivers and pedestrians are thinking and doing..
It’s not enough to know the truth - we need to know what other people believe, even if it’s wrong - so that we can try to avoid the consequences of their mistakes.
I think that might be why it still matters what the fake news is reporting.