![\"Image](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/d6\/Walter-Duranty.jpg\/220px-Walter-Duranty.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy K. Grady<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> is one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world, with a global influence and reach. Many consider it to be the most respected news source in the world. This is because it has won many awards for its journalistic integrity, such as the Pulitzer Prize. The Pulitzer Prize is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States. The <\/span>New York Times<\/span><\/i> has won <\/span>127 Pulitzer Prizes<\/span><\/a> in various categories. Usually, the awards go to their journalists, emphasizing its integrity and reputation. However, its reputation is not without blemishes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 1932, the Times\u2019 Moscow Bureau Chief Walter Duranty <\/span>won<\/span><\/a> America’s most coveted award for journalism for his coverage of Soviet life in the 1930s. Walter Duranty headed the <\/span>Times\u2019 <\/span><\/i>Moscow bureau from 1922 to 1936 and wielded great influence in shaping American attitudes toward the Soviet Union during his tenure. Duranty used his access to write glowing reports of what was happening in the Soviet Union, which gave him access to top officials. He secured the <\/span>first interview<\/span><\/a> for an American newspaper with Josef Stalin himself. He quickly became the regime’s favorite correspondent and always presented it in a positive light. This access allowed him special insight. In 1932, he won the <\/span>Pulitzer Prize<\/span><\/a> for a series of articles about the Soviet economy.<\/span><\/p>\n His accolades and access made him seem to be the most qualified journalist to cover the famine that broke out in 1932 in the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union, especially Ukraine. His connections to decision makers should have made it easy for him to provide accurate reporting of what was happening. However, in order to keep the access he had to top officials, he instead published articles that significantly downplayed the significance of the story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Stalin <\/span>intentionally caused<\/span><\/a> the famine, as he saw the farmers of the area as a threat to the Communist regime. This is because they were hesitant to support the regime and had nationalist tendencies. In 1932 and 1933, Stalin imposed impossible demands on the farmers for grain and other foodstuffs through the forced collectivization of agriculture. He did so through threat of force and executions. By the spring of 1933, the people of Ukraine were reduced to <\/span>eating grass, tree bark, earthworms<\/span><\/a>, their <\/span>livestock, their pets<\/span><\/a>, and anything else they could find. It\u2019s estimated that between <\/span>4 and 9 million people died<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When other journalists and newspapers released stories about the famine, Duranty dismissed them as anti-communist propaganda that was intended to illegitimize the regime. In his article \u201c<\/span>Russians Hungry but Not Starving<\/span><\/a>,\u201d he argued that while malnutrition was a problem in parts of the USSR, it was nowhere near the levels that other journalists were claiming and that there was no famine. However, British Foreign Office documents show that Duranty <\/span>confided<\/span><\/a> to a diplomat at the British Embassy in Moscow that he believed around 10 million people had died in the famine, showing that he knew his articles were untrue. Duranty\u2019s word was considered trustworthy, and therefore the problem wasn\u2019t taken seriously by other states as a situation where their help was needed. This dismissive coverage of Ukraine led President Franklin Roosevelt to officially recognize the Soviet Union<\/span> because he thought that the USSR was thriving and had valuable potential for a formal economic relationship. Malcolm Muggeridge, a reporter for the <\/span>Manchester Guardian<\/span><\/i>, and Gareth Jones, a freelance journalist, both covered the USSR during this time. They continued to report on the ongoing famine, which got them <\/span>banned from returning<\/span><\/a>. This is because the top officials of the state only wanted positive coverage of the happenings in their regime, and they had the power to control who was permitted and where. They deemed the contents of their publications libel, making it seem that they were kicked out because their reporting wasn\u2019t factual. By keeping Muggeridge and Jones out of the USSR and they could keep information about the status of the famine in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Duranty\u2019s false coverage of the event had real consequences. Had Duranty offered accurate and detailed reporting, like Muggeridge and Jones, he may have lost his access to decision makers and the lavish life that came with it. Yet he could have saved countless lives by publishing the truth. The most troubling part of the story is that Duranty knew that the famine was severe and yet used his platform in a way that made it impossible for anyone to know the truth about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n