Saturday, February 03, 2007

TIME carries documentary, adopts policy on Armenian Genocide

03/02/2007
Financial Times

The Feb. 12, 2007 issue of the European edition of TIME magazine -- available in newsstands throughout Europe as of Feb. 2 -- carries a full-page factual announcement on the Armenian Genocide, along with a complimentary DVD, in English and French, which contains a compelling 52-minute documentary on the Armenian Genocide by French director Laurence Jourdan. The DVD also includes a 46-minute interview with Dr. Yves Ternon, a leading expert on the Armenian Genocide.

Both the DVD and the full-page ad were provided free of charge by TIME Europe (circulation 550,000) after realizing that its staff, without proper review, had inserted in the June 6, 2005 issue of TIME Europe a Turkish DVD as a paid advertisement under the guise of promoting tourism to Turkey. The Turkish DVD, paid for by the Ankara Chamber of Commerce, was a deceitful attempt to spread malicious lies and denialist propaganda on the Armenian Genocide.

To correct this error, TIME (Europe) published, in its October 17, 2005 issue, a critical page-long letter to the editor jointly signed by five French organizations. In an Editor's note appended to the letter, TIME apologized for disseminating the Turkish DVD.

In December 2005, the five organizations along with the Switzerland-Armenia Association (SAA), the French Association of Armenian Lawyers and Jurists (AFAJA), the European - Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (EAFJD), and The California Courier newspaper reached an amicable agreement with TIME executives ensuring that the facts of the Armenian Genocide are not distorted again in the pages of the magazine.

Subsequently, Michael Elliott, the Editor of TIME International, issued the following public statement: "Please be advised that, in common with other leading news organizations, it is TIME's policy and practice to refer to the Armenian genocide as a historical fact. Accordingly, I will be informing our correspondents and editors that the term 'Armenian genocide' should be used without qualification."

The abovementioned organizations said in an announcement that are fully satisfied with the corrective steps taken by TIME magazine. They are also pleased that the Turkish attempt to distort the facts of the Armenian Genocide, supported by considerable financial resources, was properly countered as a result of these organizations' close cooperation with TIME which placed journalistic ethics above all other considerations.

Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.

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