[ALBSA-Info] Nov. 13 NYT article on Albania

[albboschurch at juno.com]

[ If interested, we can forward the article by Nicholas Wood ]

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----- Forwarded Message -----
From: GQKokalari at aol.com


To all concerned,

Today,  as a result of yesterday's insulting article on the front page of
the New York Times about Albania and child trafficking, I had a long
telephone conversation with a senior editor from the Times.   

In essence,  I questioned the figure of 300,000 gypsies and asked him to
provide me with a fact check and the source of this information, and he
agreed to confirm this for me.    I also expressed my opinion that the
article was the most recent in a long series of articles published by the
NYT that had an anti-Albanian bias.   I cited another recent NYT article,
Ian Fisher's August 6, 2003 piece that questioned Mother Teresa's ethnic
identity.

With respect to the Mother Teresa issue, I asserted that for the article
to have been more balanced, Ian Fisher should have mentioned the fact
that the Vatican website declares Mother Teresa an Albanian and that Agi
Bojaxhiu, Mother Teresa's niece and only living relative, maintains that
her father, Lazar, and her aunt, Mother Teresa, as well as their father,
were  Albanian.   I also suggested that the NYT consider doing an
interview with her.  

During my conversation with the editor, I inquired about why, to my
knowledge, there were never any articles in the NYT praising Albanians
for their heroic efforts at saving 100% of the Jews who sought refuge in
Albania during the Nazi occupation.  He said that he was not sure if this
topic was ever covered by the NYT because he was not intimately familiar
with Albanian issues, which is understandable due to the fact that it's
not his area of responsibility.       

The editor claimed there is no "institutional bias" at the NYT against
Albania, and I told him that although I appreciate his position on this
matter, there may have been individual NYT journalists who had an axe to
grind toward Albania, and I mentioned both Nick Gage and David Binder as
examples

What does this all mean?

Well, first, it is not going to change the past vis a vis any negative
articles the NYT has published about Albania  - in this regard, "the
horses have left the barn."   That being said,  I encourage Albanians to
write to the NYT to protest yesterday's article.  Although letters from
Albanian organizations should be encouraged, it is also important that as
many individuals as possible send letters so that the point is well made.
  Will your letters  be published?  Unlikely.  But that's not the point. 
 The NYT should know how we feel in hope that its editors will maintain
objectivity over what is said about Albanians in the future. This is one
method by which public opinions can be influenced.

But at the end of the day, most of the problems within Albania, and human
trafficking in particular (and make no mistake, the Albanians are no
innocents in this regard), can be traced to the moral bankruptcy of its
leaders.  I am afraid we may have to wait until we have credible,
responsible leadership in Albania before we see a series of positive NYT
articles on Albanians.

The email address to send your letters is:

letters at nyt.com

Address you message to the Editor, limit your letters to 150 words or
less and include your name, address and home and daytime telephone
numbers. 

Talking points could include:

1) The figure of 300,000 gypsies has no basis in fact and request a
retraction;

2)  The article did not merit front page NET coverage;

3)  Request the that the NYT do a story on Albania's Rigthteous during
WWII;

4)  Stressing Mother Teresa's Albanian ethnic identity.

You may be thinking, "what is my letter going to do?"  Alone, who knows? 
But if they get enough letters it will get their attention.   You can sit
there and stew about this and complain to other Albanians, or you can do
something about it.  The choice is yours and its just one click away!  

Please feel free to pass this along.

Gary Kokalari
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