Buried by the Times: The Holocaust

Laurel Leff talked about her book Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America’s Most Important Newspaper, published by Cambridge University Press. Professor Leff argued that the New York Times downplayed the Holocaust, which ultimately resulted in the minimizing and misunderstanding of modern history’s worst genocide. The author explained that the newspaper, which she described as the most influential American news source, failed at providing full and complete coverage of what European Jews endured from 1939-1945 by burying the lead and never printing the news on the front page. Ms. Leff contended that if different editorial decisions were made at the New York Times many lives might have been saved. Ms. Leff recounted how personal relationships at the newspaper, the assimilations tendencies of The Times' Jewish owner, and the ethos of mid-century America all led the paper to consistently downplay news of the Holocaust, which effected how news of Hitler’s ‘final solution’ wa close