Irish ambassador to the United States Anne Anderson joined critics of the New York Times Wednesday as the news organization received hundreds of complaints about Tuesday's coverage of a tragic accident in Berkeley, California.
The Times published an article Tuesday night about the collapse of a fourth-floor balcony at Library Gardens Apartments, which killed six Irish students, all in their twenties. The idea behind the story, titled "Deaths of Irish Students in Berkeley Balcony Collapse Cast Pall on Program," was to explain the summer travel program, called J-1 visas, that the students had used to visit the U.S.
But the coverage offended critics like Anderson, who said the article implied students' behavior was a factor in the collapse, according to an open letter she posted on the Irish embassy website. The story notes several times that the students were being loud prior to the collapse.
"We
understand and agree that some of the language in the piece could be
interpreted as insensitive, particularly in such close proximity to this
tragedy," Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy wrote. "It was never
our intention to blame the victims and we apologize if the piece left
that impression."The Times published an article Tuesday night about the collapse of a fourth-floor balcony at Library Gardens Apartments, which killed six Irish students, all in their twenties. The idea behind the story, titled "Deaths of Irish Students in Berkeley Balcony Collapse Cast Pall on Program," was to explain the summer travel program, called J-1 visas, that the students had used to visit the U.S.
But the coverage offended critics like Anderson, who said the article implied students' behavior was a factor in the collapse, according to an open letter she posted on the Irish embassy website. The story notes several times that the students were being loud prior to the collapse.
The Times published other letters criticizing the story. And Times public editor Margaret Sullivan fielded hundreds of complaints, according to her blog post.
"My take: The thrust of the story was insensitive," she said, "and the reaction to it understandable."
The three authors of the Berkeley article spoke to multiple people who had enjoyed the visa program in the past, and quoted officials' reactions to the recent tragedy.
But the article also described the work-abroad visa program as "party central," and referred to past instances in which Irish students had wrecked apartments in San Francisco. Reader complaints also mentioned the top of the article, which calls the visa program a "source of embarrassment for Ireland," before introducing the balcony accident in the third paragraph.
One of the reporters, Adam Nagourney, said he thought the program was fair game for a news story, according to Sullivan. But the balance of the article was off, he told her.
"I put too much emphasis on the negative aspects [of the visa program]," he wrote, "and they were too high in my story."
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