I do not expect newspapers such as Iran Daily to bother with facts and checking their claims. However I used to think Los Angeles Times to be a professional journalistic institution. Their article on Iran Civil Aviation claims me dead, while I am alive. I have written them twice, contacted 4 different people there. I have not heard back from them except for a short email saying matter is being forwarded to their foriegn desk. Anyway this is my letter to them:
To Whom It may be concerned,
Times September 15th report on Iran civil aviation by Borzou Daragahi is simply untrue. It represents the biased approach of some Iranian officials and is not even well researched. The article claims Mr. Mehdi Dadpei (my father) was killed with his son in airplane crash in Mashhad. Since I am his only son, I can assure you I am very much alive as I am writing you these lines.
I found it appalling that Mr. Daragahi did not even bother to check his facts. A simple google search would have revealed how biased and fictitious the reports he relied on were. It also is an affront to the legacy of a well respected aviator and a great man. Mehdi Dadpay was a great pilot and leader who served his country and people to his outmost. Mr. Daragahi’s article is a miserable patchwork of official speeches and IRIB fallacious reports that were trying to white wash the grave conditions of Iranian civil aviation industry. All of the quotations in his article are already reported and printed in Iranian media. I am surprised why these officials wanted to stay anonymous, when they already have gone on record with Iranian medial saying the same things.
For Mr. Daragahi to offer my father as a scapegoat to be blamed for the present conditions of Iranian Civil Aviation is a betrayal of the simplest principles of decency and journalism. I consider it an insult and a misrepresentation of facts and reality.
Sincerely Yours,
Ali Dadpay
----I also would like to say to Mr. Daragahi that it is customary for college students to copy, he should have known better!
No comments:
Post a Comment