NPR Ombudsman Takes Up D'Arcy Case NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin has weighed in on a report done by reporter David D'Arcy. D'Arcy was dismissed for it. "The original report did not, in my opinion, fully and accurately present all of the facts. Nor did it present MoMA's position on the ownership question. The painting has been in federal custody for years, and MoMA's position is that the Austrian courts must decide the painting's legal owners, since the painting was in the United States only as part of a loan arrangement. Most important, in an issue of journalistic fairness, the report did not give MoMA a chance to respond to specific and direct charges leveled against it by numerous critics. The original report was wrongly framed, and NPR was right to air a clarification in early January." NPR.org 03/16/05
- Defending D'Arcy Attorney Randol Schoenberg disputes Dvorkin's criticisms: "You wrote "the original report did not, in my opinion, fully and accurately present all of the facts." No doubt this is true of Mr. d'Arcy's story -- as it is true of each and every story aired on NPR. No 5-minute story "could fully and accurately present all the facts" of a historical case concerning events 65+ years ago, the litigation of which has lasted now for over seven years and generated no less than six court opinions concerning complex legal issues beyond the ken of even NPR's above-average listeners. So your comment, while true, is hardly a criticism. Notably, you fail to mention any inaccuracies in the report. If there are any, they are certainly minor." Straight Up (AJBlogs) 03/16/05