Does anyone know how I can contact the New York Times correspondents or reporters in Taiwan? There are some interesting developments coming up which I think they might want to be aware of.
Can anyone point me to any online articles written by local New York Times correspondents about events in Taiwan?
As for myself, I am a columnist for the local China Post. I wrote a recent OP-ED piece for the New York Times and emailed it in . . . . . however I suspect the New York offices won’t print it because it is too sensitive and casts the US State Department in a bad light.
I would be interested in talking to some local New York Times reporters about it however . . . . . any advice anyone could give for contacting them would be appreciated. Thanks.
You might want to try the National Review. This seems like something they would very much like to print. As currently conservatives have a pro-Taiwan, anti-state dept. mood about them. The only problem is getting printed in the National Review will make it unable for you to printed in the NYT. Both papers have an ideological bent(NYT=left, NR=right). Just a thought.
Mr Hartzell,
From what I can tell, from where I sit, here in Montreal, the NYTimes does not print op-ed pieces that just in the mail like that. They have their own staff I think that assign most op-ed pieces to professional writers. Still, there’s a chance they might let you in the door, but talking to Times reporters won’t do you any good. Besides, there are NO Times reporters in Taiwan. They are in others part of Asia but not there. Taiwan does not matter to the New Yawk Times. Just publish your op-ed piece in the Taipei Times there and let people read it online around the world. Write local, read global. Forget the NYTimes op-ed page, they will never let you in. IMHO. I might be wrong. I often am.
Why don’t you post that oped piece here on the thread and let us read it? Maybe readers will have suggestions as to where you can place it. The China Post, the Taiwan News, too. Make it about 800 pages, maximum, I have been told. I mean words. sorry.
I have given similar pieces to the CHINA POST, TAIWAN TIMES, AND TAIPEI TIMES in the past. However, they have refused to print them because I discuss in detail how and why TAIWAN IS NOT A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY . . . . . . . . .
but I thought the New York Times might be more objective . . . . . . .
This is just a summary of my findings . . . . . . . as for the length of my full analysis . . . . . . . . you suggested not exceeding 800 pages. I think I might be able to condense it to that.
Mr H, the NY Times is even MORE liberal than the local papers in Taiwan. You should publish the op ed piece in the People’s Daily of Red China, if you really want to show that Taiwan is NOT a sovereign country. They will appreciate your comments.
The other thing to do is take out a quarter-page advertisement in the New York Times, if you really want to alert the US public, it will cost you about US$50,000 for a one time ad.
Otherwise, I seriously doubt any newspaper of record, right or left, will ever publish it. The Internet, yes, put it on your website and people can find it thru google searches. you will reach somebody!
Forget about it – the New York Times that is – impossible mission, that.
Post it here, to begin with. I want to read it and I am sure others here too.
Mr H. — By liberal, lefties, I mean the New York Times supports Taiwan’s relative independence. They don’t want to hear your comments. TRUTH? Nobody is interested in the truth anymore. Take out an ad, pay your own way, it’s the only way to advertize Your truth. Nobody else will listen.
Media is money, big media is big money. truth has nothing to do with it. Whoever told you that?
[quote=“formosa”]Mr H. — By liberal, lefties, I mean the New York Times supports Taiwan’s relative independence. They don’t want to hear your comments. TRUTH? Nobody is interested in the truth anymore. Take out an ad, pay your own way, it’s the only way to advertize Your truth. Nobody else will listen.
Media is money, big media is big money. truth has nothing to do with it. Whoever told you that?[/quote]
I specifically recall my elementary school teachers telling me that truth was important! I demand an explanation and a rationale for everything which CONFORMS TO THE TRUTH !!!
Otherwise, I will be forced to tear up my 6th Grade GRADUATION CERTIFICATE !!! (If I can find it . . . . . . )
[quote=“Hartzell”]I have given similar pieces to the China POST, Taiwan TIMES, AND Taipei TIMES in the past. However, they have refused to print them because I discuss in detail how and why Taiwan IS NOT A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY . . . . . . . . .
but I thought the New York Times might be more objective . . . . . . .
This is just a summary of my findings . . . . . . . as for the length of my full analysis . . . . . . . . you suggested not exceeding 800 pages. I think I might be able to condense it to that.[/quote]
You make it sound like you want them to print your PhD dissertation. Is what you’ve written catchy enough and timely and newsworthy given current events?
As media people like to say, give me “news, not history”
Well, the article I wrote is only 1000 words or so. It is timely, since it discusses the controversy regarding Taiwan’s desire to hold referenda on various issues.
However . . . . . you cannot understand Taiwan’s current predicament without considering 20th century history . . . . . . .
Here is the name of the only correspondent that I have seen writing stories on Taiwan. If he’s still here he seemed to have been writing most of his articles during the SARS outbreak.
DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Also I would be very interested in reading your article. I hope you might post it here if you have a chance.
I am submitting it to some Congressmen first for their information. I will consider posting it later based on their reactions . . . . . I have made dozens of telephone calls to Washington, D.C. over the past two weeks with my new internet telephone.
Richard, don’t bother contacting Donald MCNeil at the New York Times, he is a science writer I think and he has no control over editorial commentary decisions. Face it, your op ed comment will NEVER be published in a major US newspaper, unless they commission or ask you to write one. They never print unsolicited stuff like yours.
You must first become a famous person in Taiwan, as famous as Wang Dan is in the USA, or as famous as Marcel Marceau is in France, or as famous as Jayson Blair once was in the USA, and then the Times will invite you to write your opinions on the referendum, Ditto with congressional people, they are NOT going to read your stuff. Not even their assistants will read it.
Richard, get real. You have a good column in the China Post, use it. You are never going to reach a global audience from here. Maybe when you move back to DC, then you get something done. NOT from Taiwan. Never.
Look, Taiwan loves you. You do good things here. Forget about being a spokesman in the USA media. NEVER. They got their own guys already.
Or, like I said before, take out a paid ad. That is how REAL mavericks get the word out. Put your money where your mouth is.
You got a good heart. We love you! Enjoy the summer, relax . . . . .
Never say never. While the odds may be slim you never know who will read your work by chance. Emailing an already complete article/op-ed piece is easy once its written. Why not send to as many people as you can. I’d even try sending it to some academic journals, although 1000 words would be pretty slim for them, it would have to be fluffed up a bit.
mfaas is right, it can’t hurt to try. Don’t listen to those who say no way in hell, don’t even try. Send it to not just the NYT but the IHT, WSJ Asia, Time, Newsweek, etc. Send it to 20 publications, and you never know what might happen.
But someone else’s point was also valid that it should be news, not just a history lesson or a dissertation. You definitely need to lead in with discussion about the referendum discussion or some other newsworthy event and make that the focus of your paper with your historical explanation being secondary. . . but as a journalist I’m sure you already know that.
You certainly have a unique argument that deserves to be heard and debated on its merits. (That is a polite way of saying that it sounds kind of wacky to me but is worth a try.)
If you have not yet done so, perhaps you could pass your research to the Taiwan Studies Institute. They in turn could pass it to Taiwan’s lobbyists in Washington, Cassidy & Associates.
The Washington Post reported last week that “according to Cassidy’s lobby filings, it received $1.5 million from TSI last year, $2 million in 2001 and $900,000 in 2000.”
For that kind of money Cassidy should be able to get a pro-Taiwan 1000 word op-ed piece placed somewhere, when the time is right, such as closer to the PRC and ROC national days in October.
In Washington, D.C. itself you could try the Washington Times. They would probably be more willing to print it than the Post.
Elsewhere, try the papers in Republican states like in Bush’s home state of Texas. Maybe the Dallas Morning News or a Houston paper will print it.
And of course, you should try sending a more detailed summary of your research to places like the Heritage Foundation and even the Rand Corp. Who knows, maybe somebody somewhere will pick up on what you have spent so much time researching.
Um… slight problem there – Hartzell’s premise is anything but pro-Taiwan. Forget reunification vs. independence, Richard’s stance is that Taiwan is under US military government or something, so Taiwan has no sovereignty and in fact, the entire KMT, DPP, PFP, TSU, et al. are illegitimate.
Or something like that. Look at Cuba’s situation in the late C19th for more of an idea of what he’s on about.
My research shows that the Montevideo Convention, Article 1, is incomplete. Taiwan appears to satisfy the conditions of being an independent, sovereign nation, but actually does not . . . . .
Sandman’s post is right on the money . . . . . . it sounds like he has done more research on this angle than he is letting on . . . . . . .