Newspapers and the imperatives of history

The capital of Armenia might as well be in Hollywood. L.A. has more Armenians than anywhere else in America. Which makes the media scandal of the week out of the L.A. Times all the more relevant. Word's out that managing editor Douglas Frantz killed a story about the Armenian genocide, one of the darkest episodes of war in the 20th Century, written by Armenian American staff reporter Mark Arax, for dubious reasons. Read about the latest newsroom controversy here and here. The paper's coverage of local Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day events is here. There is also a really interesting analysis of the politics of saying "genocide" by Matt Welch.