Walter Duranty – the man who denied that there was a famine in the Ukraine (1932 -33) – Stalin’s favorite Western journalist, was one of the worst reporters ever. Unfortunately he was not alone, others such as Castro’s de facto public relations man Herbert Matthews were just as bad. To this day the New York Times instead of trying to get at a story puts its ideological objectives first. Let us also not forget the disgraceful non coverage of the Holocaust as it was unfolding because W.A.S.H. (White Anglo Saxon Hebrew) publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger was afraid that the Times would be referred to as a “Jewish” newspaper. The Times Middle East correspondents are (with some exceptions) particularly bad as well.
by Humberto Fontava
“A foreign reporter — preferably American — was much more valuable to us at that time (1957) than any military victory,” wrote Ernesto “Che” Guevara in his diaries. “Much more valuable than rural recruits for our guerrilla force, were American media recruits to export our propaganda.”
“We cannot for a second abandon propaganda. Propaganda is vital — propaganda is the heart of all struggles,” said Fidel Castro in a letter to a revolutionary colleague in 1954.
“In all essentials Castro’s battle for Cuba was a public relations campaign fought in New York and Washington.” — British historian Hugh Thomas
Fidel Castro has strong ideas of liberty, democracy, social justice, the need to restore Cuba’s Constitution…this amounts to a new deal for Cuba, radical, democratic and therefore anti-Communist. (Herbert Matthews, New York Times Feb. 1957.)
[…]
“One Thousand Killed in 5 days of Fierce Street Fighting,” blared a New York Times headline on Jan 4, 1959 about the “battle” of Santa Clara in central Cuba where Ernesto “Che” Guevara earned much of his enduring martial mystique. “Commander Che Guevara appealed to Batista troops for a truce to clear the streets of casualties,” continues the Times article. “Guevara turned the tide in this bloody battle and whipped a Batista force of 3,000 men.”
A year later, Che’s own diaries revealed that his forces suffered exactly one casualty during this Caribbean Stalingrad, as depicted by the Times. British historian Sir Hugh Thomas, author of a 1700 page Cuban history and who initially vied with Herbert Matthews as a Castro sycophant, claims a grand total of six casualties for this Caribbean Verdun. Your humble servant here interviewed several eye-witnesses (on both sides) to this “battle” and their consensus came to about five casualties total for this Caribbean Iwo Jima.
True to New York Times– form, during this “battle,” they didn’t have a reporter within 300 miles of Santa Clara. Instead they relied on their trusty Cuban Castroite “correspondents.”
Read the rest here: The New York Times — Defending Murderous Dictators Since Walter Duranty
UPDATE – an interesting article from seven years ago about Walter Duranty – Pulizter Winning Lies.
Tags: Che Guevara, Humberto Fontava, Media bias, New York Times, Walter Duranty
