LOS ANGELES - Councilmember Paul Krekorian - a descendant of Armenian Genocide survivors - introduced a motion directing all Los Angeles City offices to cancel their subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal and other major newspapers for printing full-page ads paid for by a group dedicated to denying the Armenian Genocide."The actions of the Wall Street Journal are far worse than complacency," said Councilmember Krekorian. "By allowing a shadowy organization to buy ad space and perpetuate noxious, unsupported views that ignore the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians, they are complicit in genocide denial. Until they apologize to the community, give equal space to truth-based advertising, and change their ad policies once and for all, the City of Los Angeles will not support them. We cannot subsidize genocide denial with our tax dollars."
On April 20, just four days before the world commemorated Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, in honor of the 1.5 million Armenians who were tortured, starved, killed and forced into exile by the Ottoman Empire, the Wall Street Journal - the business paper of record in the United States - accepted tens of thousands of dollars from "Fact Check Armenia," a website that perpetuates the vicious lie that the Armenian Genocide did not occur. "Fact Check Armenia" launched a nationwide ad campaign to cast doubt on facts that people throughout the world recognize as indisputably true.
Krekorian's motion, seconded by Councilmembers Mitch O'Farrell, Nury Martinez, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, David Ryu and Council President Herb Wesson Jr., also orders City of LA offices to cancel subscriptions to other newspapers that published ads from the same denialist organization, including the Chicago Tribune (owned by LA Times parent company, Tribune Publishing) and the San Jose Mercury News (owned by LA Daily News parent company, Digital First Media). A genocide denial billboard placed in Boston earlier this month was removed after a community uproar caused Clear Channel to take it down, calling it an "error."
Read Krekorian's Motion here: bit.ly/1WLbKo8