More Than 70 Journos Sign On To Letter Urging NAA Action On Nazi-Era Indifference

By: E&P Staff More than 70 journalists, journalism educators and other public figures are supporting a letter urging the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) to take symbolic actions acknowledging the failure of American newspapers and journalism schools to aid German Jewish journalists trapped in Hitler's Germany.

Among those signing the letter, which was first reported by E&P last week are Alex Jones, James F. Hoge Jr., Judith Crist, Jeff Jacoby, Marvin Kalb, Todd Gitlin, and former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

As reported, the letter drafted and circulated by The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies and former New York Times reporter Laurence Zuckerman refers to research by Northeastern University professor Laurel Leff that, among other things, alleged that in 1939 the NAA, then named the American Newspaper Publishers Association (ANPA) refused to grant Harvard University Professor Carl Friedrich ten minutes to speak at its annual convention about ways to bring German Jewish journalists to the United States.

In a statement released in response to E&P's story, NAA President and CEO John Sturm said while he is open to the letter's suggestions, the association's own research has not found any reference to the 1939 incident.

Following is a list of the persons who signed the letter:

Marvin Kalb
Founding Director and Senior Fellow, Shorenstein Center
on the Press, Politics and Public Policy - Harvard University

Martin Peretz
Editor in Chief, The New Republic

Nicholas Lemann
Dean, Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University

Alex Jones
Director, Shorenstein Center on the
Press, Politics and Public Policy - Harvard University

Leon Wieseltier
Literary Editor, The New Republic

Murrey Marder
Sponsor, Nieman Watchdog Project,
Nieman Foundation for Journalism,
Harvard University

Bernard Weinraub
former reporter, New York Times

Laurence Zuckerman
former reporter, New York Times

Morton Mintz
senior adviser to the Nieman Foundation's Watchdog Project
former reporter, Washington Post
former chair, Fund for Investigative Journalism.

Arlene Morgan
Associate Dean
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

Neil Hickey
Contributing Editor, Columbia Journalism Review

James F. Hoge, Jr.
Editor, Peter G. Peterson Chair
Foreign Affairs
Council on Foreign Relations

Jonathan Tepperman
Deputy Managing Editor
Foreign Affairs
Council on Foreign Relations

James W. Brown
Professor and Executive Associate Dean
Indiana University School of Journalism

Edward I. Koch
Mayor of New York City, 1978-1989;
newspaper columnist & Bloomberg Radio commentator

Robert K. Stewart
Director, Institute for International Journalism
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University

James L. Baughman
Director and Professor
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Lorraine E. Branham
Director, School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin

Lewis A. Friedland
Director, Center for Communication and Democracy
Professor, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Department of Sociology
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Michael Mandelbaum
Professor and Director of the American Foreign Policy Program,
The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International
Studies and frequent op-ed columnist

Russ Baker
Editor-in-chief, The Real News Project
Contributing Editor, Columbia Journalism Review

Todd Gitlin
Professor of Journalism and Sociology
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Marvin Olasky
Professor of Journalism, University of Texas at Austin
Editor-in-chief, World

Fouad Ajami
Professor and Director, Middle East Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University;
Contributing editor, The New Republic

Ben Wattenberg
Moderator, 'Think Tank' - PBS Television
Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Maxwell McCombs
Jesse H. Jones Centennial Chair
School of Journalism
University of Texas at Austin

Philip Meyer
Knight Chair in Journalism
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Bill McAllister
former reporter, The Washington Post

John V. Pavlik
Professor and Chair, Department of Journalism and Media Studies
Director, Journalism Resources Institute
School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

David T. Z. Mindich
Professor and Chair
Department of Journalism and Mass Communication
Saint Michael's College

Linda Steiner
Editor, Critical Studies in Media Communication
Department of Journalism and Media Studies
Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey

James L. Hoyt
Professor Emeritus and former Director
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Jeff Jacoby
Syndicated columnist, The Boston Globe

Bernhard Debatin
Associate Professor for Multimedia Policy
Director of Tutorial Studies in Journalism
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University

Julie Triedman
Senior Reporter, The American Lawyer
Adjunct Professor of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Robert S. Greenberger
former reporter, Wall Street Journal

Mary T. Rogus
Associate Professor, Broadcast Journalism
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University

Lynn Schofield Clark
Assistant Research Professor and Director, Teens & the New Media@Home
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Colorado at Boulder

David Abrahamson
John Deering McCormick Professor
Medill School of Journalism
Northwestern University

Jerry L. Sloan
Professor Emeritus
E.W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University

Barbara S. Reed
Department of Journalism & Media Studies
School of Communication, Information and Library Studies
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey

Jonathan Weiner
Professor
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Gabriel Schoenfeld
Senior Editor, Commentary

Judith Crist
Adjunct Professor of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Christopher Simpson
Professor, School of Communication
American University

Robert Trager
Professor
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Colorado at Boulder

James W. Carey
CBS Professor of International Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Ellen Willis
Department of Journalism
New York University

Walter M. Brasch
Professor of Journalism
Bloomsburg University

LynNell Hancock
Associate Professor of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Abe Peck
Sills Professor, Medill School of Journalism
Northwestern University

Jo-Ann Huff Albers
Professor, School of Journalism & Broadcasting
Western Kentucky University

Bella Mody
The deCastro Professor of Global Media
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Colorado

Sharon Kornely
Senior Lecturer, Medill School of Journalism
Northwestern University

Joseph Bernt
Professor of Journalism
Associate Director of Graduate Studies & Research
E. W. Scripps School of Journalism
Ohio University

Kathleen Bartzen Culver
Faculty Associate, School of Journalism & Mass Communication
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Bill Huntzicker
Assistant Professor, Journalism and Mass Communication
St. Cloud State University

Tom Linden
Glaxo Wellcome Distinguished Professor of Medical Journalism
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Aaron Klein
Cohost, The John Batchelor Show - ABC Radio
Jerusalem bureau chief, WorldNetDaily.com

Judith Matloff
Adjunct Professor of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

David Standish
Lecturer, Medill School of Journalism
Northwestern University

Ron Rosenbaum
columnist, New York Observer; author of Explaining Hitler

Bill Israel
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication
The University of Massachusetts Amherst

Jack McLeod
Maier-Bascom Professor Emeritus
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Printer Bowler
Adjunct Professor, School of Journalism
University of Montana

Gwenda Blair
Adjunct Professor of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Julie Hartenstein
Deputy Director of Career Services
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Lloyd Schwartz
Classical Music Editor, The Boston Phoenix

Debbie Schlussel
Syndicated columnist

William S. Bingham
former reporter, Capital Cities Communications
and WCNI - New London, CT

Jonathan Stern
Publisher, Decision Health

Mrs. Ruth Lichtenstein
Publisher, Hamodia

Benjamin Korn
former executive editor, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
Associate Director, The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies