In an article in the New York Times on September
22, "Picking Sides in the Sandwich War" by Lydia Polgreen, in describing
competition between two sandwich shops run by ITALIAN AMERICANS, Ms. Polgreen
chose to include a quote from a Mr. Aaron Stein who described one of the
shops as a "place (which) has a more authentic Italian feel, like you would
see MOBSTERS hanging out in the back."
This was an obvious Equating Italian Americans= Mobsters. Jonathan Landman, Metropolitan Editor of the New York Times, sent an Apology and outlined the Actions taken in response, to a Letter of Objection, written by Dona De Sanctis, Deputy Director of OSIA (Sons of Italy). If you have a moment, a brief Email of thanks to both:
Dear Ms. De Sanctis, Thanks for your letter. You are quite right. The quotation should not have been used. You may be interested to know that the offending article was killed after appearing in the first edition of our newspaper of 9/22. That means about 200,000 papers with the article were printed, around one ninth of the normal Sunday press run. Sincerely,
To: Jonathan Landan, Metro Editor, New York Times
Dear Mr. Landan: I write to bring your attention to a particularly disturbing quote that one of your reporters used recently. I refer to "Picking Sides in the Sandwich War" by Lydia Polgreen (Sept. 22). In describing competition between two sandwich shops run by Italian Americans, Ms. Polgreen chose to include a quote from a Mr. Aaron Stein who described one of the shops as a "place (which) has a more authentic Italian feel, like you would see mobsters hanging out in the back." Mr. Stein's equating "real" Italian atmosphere with organized crime is a good example of the kind of insult Italian Americans endure every day as a result of the relentless stereotyping of them by the U.S. entertainment and advertising industries. Equally unfortunate is the fact that a New York Times reporter would use such an insulting quotation in her story and that a New York Times editor would let it ride. I write in the hope that you will advise your reporters and editors to be more sensitive to the feelings of Italian Americans on the issue of stereotyping. As you see from the attached press release, we are noticing a disturbing pattern of ethnic profiling in the news media. We are counting on newspapers of record like the New York Times to help put an end to such collective slander or, at the very minimum, at least not perpetuate it. Dona De Sanctis, Ph.D.
Tel: 202/547-2900
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