Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 2, 2009

Shame on the NY Times: Pimping for gold

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

The New York Times gutted its credibility with the advertisement for Barrick Gold and Newmont Mining, disguised as a news article today, "A Nevada town escapes the slump, thanks to gold."
This article reads like a paid commercial for Barrick and Newmont, considering there have been protests underway by the Western Shoshone since Thanksgiving, who are now in court to halt the gold mining on their sacred Mount Tenabo.
The Times article appears one day after I wrote that Barrick and Newmont are among the Worst Companies in the World, according to a Censored News readers' poll of primarily Indigenous readers.
The New York Times article reeks of either a duped reporter or one that has been paid off by Barrick or Newmont to write a spin article to counter the ongoing protests and media exposure.
Perhaps the Times reporter should visit Barrick and Newmont gold mines in Africa, New Guinea or South America, where Indigenous Peoples are being pushed off their lands, raped and killed because of these gold mining corporations and poisoned by cyanide leaching.
Then, the Times can investigate the role of President Bush Sr. with Barrick's boomtown success in Nevada. Bush opened the door for Barrrick's gold mining leases in Nevada while in office, then went to work for Barrick as a senior consultant once he was out of office. Then, the Times could investigate how Barrick hired lawyers to silence reporters in England and book publishers in Canada to prevent the truth from being exposed about miners buried alive in Tanzania.
Journalism can at times rise to the highest good of society and other times, like this, it can plunge readers into the abyss of ignorance, profiteering and sacrilege.
Shame on the New York Times.



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