With everything I have been seeing and reading about the Holocaust lately, I just can’t seem to get it out of my head. I decided that I wanted to learn more, to get a better understanding of the facts. This led me to googling up some interesting new facts that I think will surprise quite a few people. Of all of the facts I found, here are the ones that stuck out the most:
* Holocaust news was consistently relegated to the Times’ back pages. Of the 1,186 articles that the Times published during 1939-1945 about Europe’s Jews, only 26 (about two percent) of them appeared on the front page, and even those articles “obscured the fact that most of the victims were Jews.”
* The Times only rarely published editorials about the annihilation of Europe’s Jews, and only once ran a lead editorial about the Nazi genocide.
* When the Nazi death camps were liberated, the Times’ coverage downplayed the fact that the victims and survivors were overwhelmingly Jews.
One common denominator? The New York Times. During World War Two, the New York Times publisher was Arthur Sulzberger, an assimilated Jew of German descent. He apparently feared that he would “be engaging in special pleading” and decided to downplay the news of the Holocaust. The New York Times, especially at that point in time, is one of the most influential sources of media in the United States. Thus, the rest of the then current media followed suit and didn’t have any grand reports of the Holocaust. It’s just another example of how easily the media can twist and skew all of the news we receive, and sometimes don’t receive. It’s astounding to me though that something like this could have happened with something as large as the Holocaust, it’s really just despicable.
It has been stated many times that we should not believe everything we hear on the news or read in a newspaper. Around the world it is a know fact that the media is a very powerful weapon, and many tyranical governments utilize the general public’s unwavering loyalty and belief of what ever the media says. For example just look at what is happening today with the H1N1 Virus. This strain of the flu came over from China at a different time then the regular flu does, and because of this the general populus is terrified about getting sick. Everyone is rushing out to get vaccinated, even though there hasnt been time to accuratly test the side effects of the vaccine. In truth the H1N1 has killed less people then the regular flu does every year. This just stands as an example of how effective the media can be at controlling the citizens of the world. Now just imagine how governments and those in control of the media downplay the embarressing and terrible things that they dont want to get out into the open. I completely agree that there is something wrong with the power that there is in the media, and its ability to control the citizens of the world.
Comment by wesnile5200 — October 29, 2009 @ 1:25 am |
Like you I am astonished at the lack of attention that the Holocaust initially got. I wrote about it in one of my posts but I’ll say it again here, I can not believe that when news of the Holocaust arrived there was a small section in the New York Times that simply said six million Jews had been killed. That kind of thing should be able to make headlines everyday for a few years. It is incredible how little attention it received. You offer a very interesting look into why this might have been when you talk of the fact that the publisher of the Times wanted to downplay the Holocaust. It makes one see how much power the media really has. If they don’t report it, chances are we won’t know it.
Comment by brenbernard — October 29, 2009 @ 6:10 pm |
I have to admit that I never knew this about The New York Times. It seems almost unbelievable that someone of that high position of power in a time of abundant news would knowingly omit pertinent information. That editor knew something major was occurring not only related to the specific actions of the death camps but also of the war in general. The fact that he would find it morally and editorially ethical to leave out information on such an important aspect of history is almost incomprehensible. Media is one of the only avenues in which facts about important events can survive throughout history. Newspaper clippings back from the 1800s are still around giving us accounts of what was occurring at the time. Being a newspaper man this editor should have known that and realized whatever he printed or did not print would be saved or lost throughout time. Of course there would be information in other places, textbooks, eyewitness accounts, etc. newspapers usually contain information which other sources would be too hesitant to print because of the controversial or shock factor. The Holocaust is an event we should learn from but we cannot if there is no lasting information concerning it left for future generations.
Comment by stonestm — November 4, 2009 @ 4:29 am |
Wow. I have to admit that I never gave this subject very much thought. I always assumed that the Holocaust would be some thing that was on the front page of the paper everyday during World War II. It’s strange to think that something as horrible as the Holocaust in our human history could just get moved to a small article on the back page. Twenty six out of 1,186 is not a very good percentage of articles appearing on the front page for something this heavy in human history. It is also strange to think that this happened with the New York Times and not just some local small town paper. I agree during World War II and currently many other papers get their national and world news from the New York Times. I do think that with the all the different ways there are now to receive news, the internet, blogs, podcasts, and television it would be harder to not hear news about something this horrible happening around the world today. Though I do believe that the news we receive here at home about things happening around the world will have a small filter on it.
Comment by Rob — November 28, 2009 @ 9:45 pm |
[...] Responses to War and Peace class at Grand Valley State University and I came across a post entitled Media Kept the Holocaust on the Downlow. This post states that the New York Times rarely ever put articles about the Holocaust on the front [...]
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