My Letter to Hearst

Dear Mr. Swartz,

More than 30 years ago I cut my teeth as a foreign correspondent for Hearst Newspapers. Indeed, I believe I was the last “roving foreign correspondent” Hearst would ever have.

I was hired by William Randolph Hearst, Jr. himself. He was a wonderful man, a man of integrity and principle. In those days, Hearst had newspapers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore, Boston, Seattle and many other American cities.

The most important story I covered for Hearst Newspapers: the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.

Many reports and editors misunderstood this event. Time magazine reported that the Ayatollah Khomeini “believes that Iran should become a parliamentary democracy.” A New York Times editorial predicted Khomeini would provide “a desperately needed model of humane governance for a third-world country.”

By contrast, my coverage for Hearst recognized the despotic nature of the regime that had taken over.

The Iran story is still playing out to this day, with Iran sponsoring terrorism, building nuclear weapons and threatening Israel with genocide.

Kayhan, the Iranian newspaper that often speaks for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, recently proposed the extermination of Israel: “the excision of this cancerous tumor from the Islamic Middle East …its total annihilation from the political geography of the region.”

Helen Thomas' outburst of unbridled anti-Semitism makes it clear that she sides with those who see a second Holocaust as a “final solution.”

As a Hearst alumnus, I am urging you as strenuously as I can to cut all ties with her as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,

Clifford D. May

President

Foundation for Defense of Democracies