Petrelis Files

David Remnick

David_Remnick@newyorker.com
Editor
The New Yorker

Dear Mr. Remnick:

One
of your political writers, Hendrik Hertzberg, has donated $900 to Sen.
John Kerry's campaign for president, according to Federal Election
Commission records.

These listings are from the tray.com web site:

Hertzberg Hendrik

4/13/2004
$500.00
New York, NY 10036
The New Yorker/Journalist -[Contribution]
JOHN KERRY
FOR PRESIDENT INC

Hertzberg, Hendrik Mr.
5/27/2004
$400.00
New York, NY 10025
the New Yorker magazine/Senior Edit -[Contribution]
JOHN KERRY
FOR PRESIDENT INC

As an American, Hertzberg is, of course, allowed to donate to any candidate he so chooses.

However,
as a journalist, he should fully disclose, when writing about Kerry,
that he has contributed funds to his White House bid, something
Hertzberg has failed to do in the New Yorker.

In
Hertzberg's June 7 "New-Time Religion" Talk of the Town piece about
religion in this year's presidential race, he wrote, "John Forbes
Kerry, who also attends Sunday Mass, has been similarly reticent

about the intimate details of his spiritual beliefs. Nevertheless,
Kerry’sbiography contains hints that his Catholicism is somewhat more
devout than was that of his political hero and role model. Kerry was an
altar
boy, and as a youth he considered the seminary and a career
in the priesthood. There is no evidence that any such thoughts ever
crossed the mind of the first J.F.K. Yet, because Kerry opposes the
recriminalization of abortion and supports stem-cell research to find
treatments for such diseases as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, a bevy of
bishops have all but called for his defeat."

Further, Hertzberg referenced a speech about a 1960 speech by John F. Kennedy, in which he said, "I

believe in an America where the separation of church and state is
absolute—where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he
be a Catholic) how to act and no Protestant minister would tell his
parishioners for whom to vote—where no church or church school is
granted any public funds or political preference."

Hertzberg closes his piece with these words. "With a bit of spiffing up
for gender-pronoun correctness, it is just barely possible to imagine
such a speech being delivered today by Senator Kerry. Could the same be said of President Bush?"

I think your writer showed clear bias in favor of Kerry, without revealing his donations to his presidential campaign.

If
your magazine believes in fair journalistic practices and ethics, then
the New Yorker should inform readers of Hertzberg's financial support of Kerry in its pages.

Sincerely,
Michael Petrelis
San Francisco, CA

Source:

The New Yorker