Petrelis Files

For Immediate Release
April 8, 2004
Contact: Michael Petrelis
(In New York April 11 – 15) 212-929-1023
(In San Francisco thereafter) 415-621-6267

GAY NEW YORK TIMES SHAREHOLDER CHARGES BIASED AIDS REPORTING;

AIDS patient travels to New York for annual shareholders meeting

New York, NY – Michael Petrelis, a gay New York Times shareholder, will hold a press conference on Tuesday, April 13 at 9:30 AM in front of the New Amsterdam Theater, 214 W. 42nd Street, before the start of the annual New York Times shareholders meeting. Petrelis will release a list of particulars charging conflicts of interest by reporters and unfair, unbalanced and biased AIDS coverage.

Petrelis has conducted an in-depth study of federal records, revealing multiple political contributions by New York Times reporters, and will release them at the press conference. Petrelis has also performed an extensive analysis of AIDS reporting by Dr. Lawrence K. Altman and has discovered a pattern of bias in Altman’s stories blindly favorable to his former employer, the federal Centers for Disease Control.

Veteran gay advocate and AIDS patient Michael Petrelis, who lives in San Francisco, is traveling to New York to attend the New York Times’ annual shareholders meeting and present publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. with his concerns.


WHAT: Press conference by HIV-positive gay activist Michael Petrelis

WHEN: April 13, 2004, 9:30 AM

WHERE: New York Times annual shareholders meeting
New Amsterdam Theater
214 W. 42 Street


“Being both a gay man living with HIV and a shareholder in the New York Times, I have many vested interests in the paper, especially its AIDS reporting, which profoundly influences public policies that directly affect my life,” said Petrelis. “Through my blog, www.mpetrelis.blogspot.com, and emails to the public editor, I’ve communicated my concerns to the paper, and have been rebuffed, so now is the time for me to deal with the publisher and his board of directors in person.”

This is the first time in New York Times history that a gay advocate will attend the shareholders meeting.