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The Congressional Black Caucus is fighting back against its critics, ripping a New York Times article that investigated the caucus’s connections to corporate interests.
A Times story that ran Feb. 14 focused on the CBC’s close connection to the fundraising efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, including among companies that critics say are exploitative of the black community. In 2008, the Times reported, the foundation spent more money on a caterer for a single event than on its scholarship program.
The CBC is angry that it’s being lumped in with the foundation’s work.
“We consider it a severe disservice to the CBC and to the other legal entities written about in its February 14 news article for the New York Times to mistakenly and recklessly lump these organizations together in a way that demeans each of these organizations and their work,” wrote CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) in a letter earlier this week. “This is as much of a mistake as it would be for us to link the New York Times to the acts of other entities located in New York simply because their names or titles are similar.”
“We, therefore, call on the New York Times for an immediate acknowledgement that its February 14 story was well below what we believe are its journalistic standards in that it was misleading, unfair and, in many respects, untrue. And we ask the New York Times for an immediate apology to the CBC.”
The letter does not ask the Times to run a correction.
The CBC has been tight-lipped about the story all week. Requests for comment from 16 member offices went unanswered, with members referring reporters to the CBC Foundation. The CBC Foundation also declined immediate requests to comment on the letter.
This week, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on its website called the article “tasteless,” and said that Times readers were likely unaware of the foundation’s civil rights work
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33142.html#ixzz0fw0jh5on
A Times story that ran Feb. 14 focused on the CBC’s close connection to the fundraising efforts of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, including among companies that critics say are exploitative of the black community. In 2008, the Times reported, the foundation spent more money on a caterer for a single event than on its scholarship program.
The CBC is angry that it’s being lumped in with the foundation’s work.
“We consider it a severe disservice to the CBC and to the other legal entities written about in its February 14 news article for the New York Times to mistakenly and recklessly lump these organizations together in a way that demeans each of these organizations and their work,” wrote CBC Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) in a letter earlier this week. “This is as much of a mistake as it would be for us to link the New York Times to the acts of other entities located in New York simply because their names or titles are similar.”
“We, therefore, call on the New York Times for an immediate acknowledgement that its February 14 story was well below what we believe are its journalistic standards in that it was misleading, unfair and, in many respects, untrue. And we ask the New York Times for an immediate apology to the CBC.”
The letter does not ask the Times to run a correction.
The CBC has been tight-lipped about the story all week. Requests for comment from 16 member offices went unanswered, with members referring reporters to the CBC Foundation. The CBC Foundation also declined immediate requests to comment on the letter.
This week, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation on its website called the article “tasteless,” and said that Times readers were likely unaware of the foundation’s civil rights work
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33142.html#ixzz0fw0jh5on