Saying the Wall Street Journal was “complicit” in minimizing the Armenian genocide, a Los Angeles city councilman called Friday for the immediate cancellation of the city’s subscriptions to the newspaper.
“The actions of the Wall Street Journal are far worse than complacency,” Krekorian said. “By allowing a shadowy organization to buy ad space and perpetuate noxious, unsupported views that ignore the systematic killing of ann estimated 1.5 million Armenians, they are complicit in genocide denial.”
Krekorian said the city will not support the Wall Street Journal unless “they apologize to the community, give equal space to truth-based advertising and change their ad policies once and for all.”
“We cannot subsidize genocide denial with our tax dollars,” he said.
The ads were published four days before the 101st anniversary of the start of the Armenian genocide on April 24.
Krekorian’s motion would also direct city officials to cancel their subscriptions to the Chicago Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News, which also printed ads from Fact Check Armenia.
The Wall Street Journal defended the decision to print the ads this week, saying “the varied and divergent views expressed belong to the advertisers.”
But Krekorian aides said other newspapers like The New York Times specifically exclude ads that deny or minimize events like the Holocaust, slavery in the United States, the Armenian Genocide and the Irish Famine.
— City News Service