Alan Caruba: Liberal Media in Free Fall

Warning Signs

 

"An enduring memory of my late Father is of him sitting in his chair by the fireplace reading The New York Times. As far as he was concerned, he was receiving the most accurate news of the nation and the world. Despite the many Pulitzer Prizes it has received over the years, he wasn’t.

"One of them went to Walter Duranty in 1932, a reporter who was an apologist for the Soviet Union’s Stalinist regime. History revealed that he failed to accurately report on the 1932-1933 famine that killed countless thousands in the Ukraine where collective farming had been imposed. In November 2003 the Pulitzer Board, decided not to revoke the prize. In its review of the 13 articles, the Board “concluded that there was not clear and convincing evidence of deliberate deceptions, the relevant standard in this case.” The Board extended its sympathy to Ukrainians."

 

Duranty's "reportage" was so skewed in favor of Stalin there is now an award named after him.

Amazon.com

... He did this whitewashing most prominently in the case of the Ukrainian Holodomor: the forced starvation of between 1.2 and 12 million ethnic Ukrainians, depending on whose estimates you believe. In other words, a lot of people. Duranty called that genocide “an exaggeration and malignant propaganda” in the newspaper of record. He also covered up the show trial of the British engineers who were tortured into falsely confessing that they were trying to sabotage Stalin’s Five-Year Plan …  and similar events … all the time excusing those Soviet misdeeds with what became his personal mantra: “You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet.' ”

Some of the first annual recipients

 

Is Oliver Stone today’s Walter Duranty?

The Duranty Prize Is Back—with an Addition; The Rather!

"This year too we are pleased to announce a new award for lifetime, that is repeated, achievement in mendacious journalism – The Rather.  This is in honor of former CBS anchorman Dan Rather, who famously lied on 60 Minutes about forged papers supposedly tarnishing President George W. Bush’s National Guard service.  Rather’s prevarications were responsible in part of the formation and naming of the Media formerly known as Pajamas, now PJ Media."