Blood Money? Sudan Government Pays Close to $1 Million for New York Times Supplement

We turn now to the situation in Darfur. On Saturday, the government of Sudan urged the United Nations to stop sending what they called "negative signals" to rebel groups in the country's Darfur region. While anti-Khartoum rebels have long urged UN involvement to counter what many consider state-sponsored genocide, the Sudanese government has claimed a UN presence would only worsen the conflict. Over the past three years tens of thousands of people have been killed in the region and over two million displaced. The violence in Darfur has worsened in recent months, and has now crossed into the neighboring country of Chad.

While the international response has been criticized as lethargic, it was recently exposed that a man accused of being a key architect of the Darfur genocide met secretly with senior British and American officials in London earlier this month. Major-General Salah Abdullah Gosh was granted a British visa to receive "medical treatment" but it was later acknowledged that while in London Gosh met with U.S. and British officials.

Meanwhile, a largely student-run divestment campaign is gaining significant momentum. The mutual fund Citizens Advisers recently became the first US fund to back a growing campaign urging divestment from companies doing business in Sudan. The decision followed the University of California's decision two weeks ago to divest from all companies working with the Sudanese government.

* Iain Levine, program director of Human Rights Watch.
* Jason Miller, a graduate student at the University of California San Francisco and co-director of the UC Sudan Divestment Taskforce.
http://www.ucdivestsudan.com/

There's at least one company that apparently has NOT joined the Sudan divestment campaign. Last week, the New York Times ran an eight-page advertisement taken out by the Sudanese government. The ad advocates investing in companies operating in Sudan. It appears as a news article with a small disclaimer across the top of the page. It praises Sudan's "peaceful, prosperous and democratic future" and complains about international media coverage that is "focused almost exclusively on the fighting between rebels and Arab militias" in Darfur.

In response, Sudan activists flooded the New York Times with demands for an apology. They have so far refused. The New York Times also declined to appear on Democracy Now!, but did give us this statement: "The Times has vigorously reported on the Sudan and our editorials have condemned the actions the Sudanese government has taken against its citizens. We accepted this special advertising section, however, in our strong belief that all pages of the paper's news, editorial and advertising must remain open to the free flow of ideas. In accepting it, we do not endorse the politics, trade practices or actions of the country or the character of its leaders. Just as we print advertisements that rebut New York Times editorials, news articles or critical reviews, we print ads that differ from our editorial position. We do so in the belief that it is in the best interests of our readers for our pages to be as open as possible."

The ad cost close to a million dollars, and was produced by the PR company Summit Communications. Summit claims to hold an exclusive agreement with the Times, where it has ran ads for several foreign governments.

* Felix Salmon, writer and media critic. Covered the relationship between the New York Times and Summit Communications on his weblog, http://www.FelixSalmon.Com.

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