Persistence of Vision

On January 3, the New York Times ran a singularly one-sided piece on the gold mining controversy that has been plaguing the impoverished mountain town of Rosia Montana, Romania. This blog outlined the problems with the paper of record's coverage here, and MPI board president Frayda Levy has followed up with a letter to the Times:

To The Editor:

The January 3rd article on the gold mine in Romania portrays a David and Goliath struggle between a lone individual and an evil mining company. This piece is as one sided, and inaccurate, as an article can get.

The journalist, Craig Smith, never interviews any of the townspeople who support the mining company. Nowhere in the article is there any mention of the town's abject poverty that could be alleviated by the development of the mine. Rather than discuss the 60% of people who chose to sell their property to the mining company, the article focuses on the minority who won't sell. Had the author bothered to interview those who sold, he could have learned of their much improved lifestyle - which now includes such basics as running water and indoor toilets.

Mr. Smith does get one aspect of the opposition to developing the mine absolutely correct. The article states that the project is opposed by "the most powerful environmental organizations in the world," wealthy businessmen as well as Hollywood activists. In other words, this is more of a cause celebre by elites than by the local townspeople.

Should any New York Times readers be interested in learning why the majority of the Rosia Montana townspeople support the mining project, they can come to a screening of an independent film on the subject. A screening of Mine Your Own Business, produced by New Bera Media in association with the Moving Picture Institute, will be held at 7 pm on January 19th at the Director's Guild Theater at 110 W 57th St. The directors and producers of the film will be present and will take questions about their experiences in Rosia Montana.

The situation at Rosia Montana is far more complex than either the Times or, as this blog has noted, the BBC, are willing to admit. Both news outlets have engaged in shamefully biased reporting on this story, and both thus do the very thing Phelim McAleer deplores in Mine Your Own Business--they advance a one-sided, highly self-serving agenda at the expense of the well-being of some of the world's poorest people.

Such news coverage only makes the case for seeing McAleer's film that much stronger. Readers are encouraged to take advantage of two free screenings in the coming days: The first, as Levy notes, will be in Manhattan this Friday, at 7 PM, at the Directors Guild Theater. The second will take place on January 24 in Washington, D.C., at the National Geographic Grosvenor Auditorium, at 7 PM.

Watch a trailer and learn more here.