ANC-ER ORGANIZED BRIEFING ON RECENT DEBACLE INVOLVING THE LOS ANGELES TIMES AND MISHANDLING OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
May 16 2007

Twenty Armenian community leaders, representing a dozen organizations,
gathered on May 9, as noted activist and commentator Harut Sassounian
briefed them on the recent debacle involving the Los Angeles Times
and its mishandling of the Armenian Genocide issue. The briefing was
organized by the Armenian National Committee of America-Eastern US
and hosted by Mr. Robert Setrakian.

Mr. Sassounian addressed the controversy created by The Times Managing
Editor Douglas Frantz, who blocked the publication of an article on
the Armenian Genocide by columnist Mark Arax last month.

Frantz alleged that Arax had a bias on this issue presumably due to
his ethnic background. The Armenian-American reporter is currently in
the process of filing a discrimination lawsuit against The Times. In
recent years, Frantz was stationed in Istanbul representing first
the New York Times and then the Los Angeles Times.

Sassounian reported he had already met with the publisher and
editor of the newspaper demanding Frantz’s dismissal. Sassounian
reminded the gathering that The Times was on record affirming the
veracity of the Genocide, and that Frantz’s actions contradicted the
newspaper’s own position on this issue. At this stage, Sassounian
stated, the community must accept nothing less than the firing of
Frantz for his complicity in Turkey’s denialist campaign – something
that Sassounian demonstrated by presenting abundant evidence. He then
encouraged attendees to push their respective organizations to show
more activism in pursuing this matter.

One of the most prominent political commentators in Armenian affairs,
Harut Sassounian is the long-time publisher of the California Courier,
President of the United Armenian Fund, and Senior Vice-President of
the Los Angeles-based Lincy Foundation. "We’re delighted to make use
of Harut Sassounian’s presence in New York to highlight the importance
of this issue," said Karine Birazian, ANC-ER Executive Director.

"In the coming months, the ANC will continue to hold such briefings
periodically, in order to better inform and mobilize our community
leadership on the issues they need to be aware of," Birazian said.