Petrelis Files

Subj: Your e-mail of April 25 Concerning D. Lee
Date: 5/7/2004 11:09:52 AM Central Daylight Time
From: mathicj@nytimes.com
To: Mpetrelis@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)



Dear Mr. Petrelis,

In answer to your e-mailed letter of April 25, here are the facts of
Denny Lee's connection with The New York Times.

Mr. Lee is a freelance contributor, not an employee. He has written
nearly 450 bylined articles for us since August 1999. Most of them
were for the Neighborhood Report pages of our City section; more
recently
Mr. Lee has switched to writing for the Escapes section. In virtually
every case, Mr. Lee's articles were nonspot and prepared under
conditions that allowed close consultation with his editors and
supervision by them. He has
performed excellently for us.

Mr. Lee's résumé, submitted before he began writing for us, showed
that his past employers included the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) and Lambda Legal, the gay civil rights organization. He has
not
worked for them during the time he has contributed articles to The
Times. One of Mr. Lee's articles mentioned Lambda Legal. Six of them
mentioned either the ACLU or its New York affiliate. In none of those
cases did Mr.
Lee's editors feel that he had a potential conflict that would have
barred him from writing or required a disclosure of his past
employment.

We will continue to make those decisions case by case.

Mr. Lee's background and his connection with The Times have nothing in
common with those of Dr. Lawrence K. Altman. In Dr. Altman's case, we
have already explained that we see no conflicts of interest or
violations of our Ethical Journalism guidelines.

Sincerely,

Catherine Mathis
VP, Corporate Communications
The New York Times Company
212-556-1981 (office)
917-593-7425 (cell)
mathis@nytimes.com