THE 2,300-WORD TIMES CORRECTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830045-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 45
• Publication Date: February 23, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830045-9
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TIME
23 February 1981
The 2,300-Word Times Correcti
A diplomat is cleared under curious circumstances
tL- or nearly seven years, Edward Kor-
who was U.S. Ambassador to Chile
when President Salvador Allende Gossens
came to power in 1970, has insisted that
he had nothing to do with secret CIA
plans to overthrow the Marxist leader.
But few beLleveG Senate Select
Committee on to gene reported
1975 that Korry a played a mayor
role in the aborted cou : the New York
imes, Washington Post and other pub-
lications repeated the charge in numerous
subsequent stories.* Korry's eight-year
diplomatic career was ruined, and not
until 1979 did he land his present job as
visiting professor of international rela-
tions at Connecticut College.
Then last week, in an extraordinary
front-page mea culpa, the New York
Times set about refurbishing Korry's
reputation. Headlined "New Evidence
Backs Ex-Envoy on His Role in Chile,"
a 2,300-word article by former Times
Investigative Ace Seymour Hersh, who
still does occasional freelance pieces for
the paper, reported that although at-
tempts had been made by the CIA to en-
gineer a military takeover in Chile, "none
of this, it is now evident, was known to
Ambassador Korry." What the. Times
failed to mention was that the writer
who was clearing Korry's name was the
man who had written some of the pa-
per's most damaging stories about Korry
-and that Korry was now one of Hersh's
sources for a book he was doing on
Henry Kissinger. - .
The Times article, surely the'longest
correction ever published in the presti-
gious paper, was commissioned by Exec-
utive Editor A.M. Rosenthal at Hersh's
suggestion. Says Rosenthal: "Sy called me
and said that he had come across new in-
formation that indicated that some of the
things we had written about Korry were
wrong. My God, if we were wrong in any
way I.would want to correct it. I asked him
to write it for the Times." Rosenthal felt
the Times had a particular responsibility
"We had published [the Kor-
ry story) extensively and on
the front page. There was no
question that we should cor-
rect the record on the front
page." Rosenthal apparently
did not know that much of
the evidence cited by Hersh
1976, offering to report afresh
the Chilean story if Korry
would talk with him about se-
intelligence activities.
cret
Korry says he refused as a
matter of principle. Hersh
heatedly denies that he tried
to make such a deal, but con-
cedes that he should have re-
examined the Korry case
sooner. Says he: "I thought he
had withheld - information
?TLME in its coverage of these
events pve no (teat credence to the
accusations agatast Korry, reporting
that he was alftont the US. oaicials
.I.,,h?Ai..,,.eeu dofandhadde-
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy
;, - from me when I needed it I
Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830045-9
sponsible editor of a responsible paper
would want to correct the record." Ro-
senthal readily authorized the corrective
story. Korry, in turn, says that he then
provided the information for the Kissin-
ger project that Hersh wanted. Says
Korry: "I've always believed in justice.
But there was misreporting by the Times.
and certain people at the paper knew
that" Korry says he is not bitter about
the seven years "spent in a kind of iso-
lation ward." As for the Times's belated t
effort to clear his name: "It's a start" ^
Korry in his office at Connecticut College
"Put it in writing. Tell Abe Rosenthal. "
had been kicking around for years or that
Hersh had been pressing Korry for help
on his book.
While working at the Times, Pulitzer .
prizewinner Hersh had written numerous
stories linking Korry with the Chilean de-
bacle. In one article, he reported that
Korry was about to be charged with con-
tempt of Congress for misleading testi-
mony before the Senate committee. Says
Korry: "Hersh was the first reporter to
stick it to me hard." Admits Hersh: "I
led the way in trashing him." When Kor-
ry protested to Hersh and other reporters
that some witnesses had lied to the Sen-
ate committee about his role, only one
newsman, Joe Trento of. the Wilmington;
(Del.) News Journal, investigated the case
in detail. In 1976 Trento wrote that Kor-
ry had been victimized by other Govern-
ment officials looking for a scapegoat, but
the story was largely ignored by the Times
and other major news organizations.
Not that Hersh had lost interest in the
matter. Korry says the Timesman ap- 1
proached him on several occasions, first in 1,