GENOCIDE CONTROVERSY LEADS LA TIMES MANAGING EDITOR TO RESIGN

armradio.am
29.06.2007 12:35

After escalating criticism from the Armenian American community for his
role in obstructing an article on the Armenian Genocide this April and
his discriminatory behavior against Armenian American reporters, Los
Angeles Times Managing Editor Douglas Frantz has resigned effective
July 6th and will be returning to Istanbul, reported the Armenian
National Committee of America-Western Region (ANCA-WR).

This past April Frantz "killed" a story on the Armenian Genocide that
was written by Armenian American Los Angeles Times reporter Mark Arax.

Frantz had erroneously accused Arax (who recently left the paper) of
having a "conflict of interest" regarding reporting on the Armenian
Genocide and had also circumvented the standard editorial process
for reviewing articles. A subsequent internal investigation by the
Times deemed Frantz’s accusations to be completely baseless.

This past April, the ANCA led a grassroots campaign to raise awareness
regarding Frantz’s actions. Over 5,000 activists responded to an
ANCA action alert and sent emails and letters calling for Frantz’s
resignation. In addition, the ANCA-WR, California Courier Publisher
Harut Sassounian and other community representatives met with
the publisher and senior Los Angeles Times management on multiple
occasions during the last several months to convey the community’s
outrage regarding Frantz’s discriminatory actions.

"Doug Frantz’s resignation from the Los Angeles Times is an appropriate
answer to his unprofessional behavior and anti-Armenian posture in
the newsroom," remarked ANCA-WR Board member Zanku Armenian. "The Los
Angeles Times is a fine newspaper and deserves better than to have a
genocide denier as a member of its senior staff. The fact that Frantz
is returning to Istanbul tells the full story of where he stands,"
he added.

Frantz’s activities and pro-Turkish positions have been monitored over
the course of his many assignments at different newspapers and most
recently in May when he moderated a panel in Istanbul that featured
a well-known genocide denier. The Armenian National Committee of
America-Western Region (ANCA-WR) worked with a coalition of individuals
to bring to light the situation that had developed at the Los Angeles
Times after Frantz more overtly revealed his anti-Armenian position
with his actions against Mark Arax. Sassounian had highlighted the
Frantz controversy in several columns that appeared in the California
Courier and a host of other news websites.

Sassounian was also instrumental in bringing to light Frantz’s
involvement in the May conference held in Istanbul.