Richard Ness : Editorial & Opinions : Educating Bergman

Lowell Bergman the famous investigative reporter known for his work on the health impact of tobacco does something strange—something that raises questions about his investigative biases. Please read the text from the interactive session that Mr. Bergman had with a participant on the New York Times website on 26 October 2005, 11.00 AM.

_____________________________________________________________

Washington, D.C.: Hi, I am following the Indonesian lawsuit filed against Newmont Mining in which they allege environmental pollution at one of the Newmont sites in Indonesia. There appear to be many typical allegations and charges usually associated with international companies operating in countries with less evolved legal systems and democratic institutions.

The description of Incas Gold, suggests that Newmont mining practices may have been responsible for past environmental pollution. Can you suggest a good, truthful source for the Indonesian case?

Thank you.

Lowell Bergman: I am only aware of The Times' coverage in the past. You should contact Jane Perlez at perlez@nytimes.com

_____________________________________________________________

Mr. Bergman, are you being honest about your answer to this reader. Are you sure you are aware of only Jane Perlez’s coverage of the Buyat Bay case? Or are you trying the limit this reader to only Perlez’s story.

Mr. Bergman I have some data for you—something it appears you failed to incorporate in your investigation. I have a sample statistic on the number of news items related to Newmont that was reported in various international media outlets during the period 2004-05.

• Associated Press-101,
• Reuters-120,
• Dow Jones-92,
• Rocky Mountain News-65,
• Financial Times-34,
• Agence France Presse-34,
• The Denver Post-60,
• Bloomberg 29, and
• The Australian Associated Press-17.

This adds to a whopping 562 news items. If you add the number of news items on Newmont that were reported in Jakarta Post, which was 146, the total increases to more than 700 news items.

When Newmont has received such extensive international media coverage, how could you be aware of only the coverage by Perlez. Isn’t this odd, Mr. Bergman? How can this be explained?

I have just one thing to say: Mr. Bergamn, all the reputational capital you have collected through your stories on cigarettes could go up in smoke in a second!!!

I would suggest that you start with the Wall Street Journal’s editorial on the Buyat Bay case “Welcome to Indonesia”, published on 15-March 2006. You will find that Perlez has failed as a reporter. She only qualifies to be in the company of the failed journalists like Jason Blair and Judith Miller.

And here is a bigger question for Mr. Bergman to think about: Do you have enough intellectual and ethical octane to acknowledge that Perlez is wrong—that her reporting has caused unfair personal pain, encouraged excessive police zeal and perpetrated the lying behavior of NGOs.