An Open Letter to the Los Angeles Times

Around the April 24th commemeration of the Armenian Genocide Managing Editor Douglas Frantz of the Los Angeles Times killed a story on the Armenian Genocide. The basis he used for killing the story were allegations that the Armenian American reporter who wrote the article had a “conflict of interest.”

Visit the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) website to send a free WebFax to the Los Angeles Times calling for the resignation of Doug Frantz.

http://anca.org/action_alerts/actionalerts.php?aaid=112

As well as sending a fax, I sent my own Letter to the Editor submission to the L.A. Times. It has yet to appear on their website or in the print version of the newspaper.

Here is my letter:

To the Los Angeles Times:

The recent decision by the editor of the L.A. Times to pull an article about the Armenian Genocide by an Armenian reporter is a step in the right direction. However, your newspaper has missed a golden opportunity. Why not take the lead in revising history? Instead of merely squashing a story about the well documented genocide of Armenians by Turkey, the L.A. Times and your editors should set a precedent here and now. As such, I suggest you take things to their logical extremes:

• Do not allow any Jewish reporter to mention the Holocaust
  
• Do not allow any African American writer to mention slavery
  
• Do not allow any African correspondent to mention the Rwandan genocide or Darfur
  
• Expunge any article by a Southeast Asian who mentions Pol Pot
  
• Deny any Native American writer who mentions cowboys, Indians, or Gen. Custer
  
• While you are at it, why not delete the word genocide entirely from your newspaper?

I hope you will take my suggestions in the spirit they are given.

Sincerely, Michael Minassian