Petrelis Files

To: Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Publisher, The New York Times

From: Michael Petrelis
New York Times Shareholder

Date: April 13, 2004

Re: List of Particulars for the New York Times


Dear Mr. Sulzberger:

Here is my list of 10 particulars regarding changes I would like to see instituted at the New York Times. In your capacities as publisher and Chairman of the New York Times Company, please consider my suggestions and proposals.

1. A Reporter's Disclosure Page section added to the Times web site informing readers of outside activities on the part of editorial staff that may influence their reporting.

2. Dr. Lawrence K. Altman’s Reporter’s Disclosure Page will mention his outside associations with the Centers for Disease Control, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Science, the University of California, the New York University Medical Center, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Josiah Macy Foundation, and the Merck Manual.

3. Every past Altman CDC and HIV related story on the Times’ web site shall carry a disclosure that he formerly worked for the CDC. Any future Altman CDC and HIV related reporting makes the same disclosure – in print and perpetuity on the Times site.

4. Opinions of activists critical of the CDC included in stories, for balance of voices the Times currently lacks.

5. Stories critical of CDC’s taxpayer-funded HIV prevention and surveillance programs will be developed and appear in print.

6. Whenever percentages are used in an AIDS story, particularly one about HIV infection rates, hard numbers are contained along with any percent figure.

7. An update on the Times’ July 1, 2000, front-page article about an alleged HIV increase in San Francisco.

8. The New York Times posts all Federal Election Commission records of editorial staff on the paper’s web site.

9. Make the New York Times AIDS stories available for free, as do myriad other news outlets, to Sister Mary Elizabeth of aegis.com.

10. The New York Times' Neediest Cases Fund and the New York Times Foundation post their six most recent IRS 990 tax returns on their respective sites.

I eagerly await a reply from you.

Regards,

Michael Petrelis
2215-R Market Street #413
San Francisco, CA 94114
Telephone: (415) 621-6267
Email: mpetrelis@aol.com
Web: www.mpetrelis.blogspot.com