Editor,
We, as part of the Peruvian community at UNM, would like to protest the publication of the article “Images of Peru: A Daily Lobo reporter’s journey to South America” on Dec. 1. We would also like to denounce the unethical way the Daily Lobo has handled the complaints of many concerned readers.
Although everyone is entitled to have an opinion, we believe a newspaper has the duty to protect the public from shortsighted views and blatantly derogatory comments toward other cultures’ beliefs and traditions. Reporting must be accurate and fair, and should never be swayed by the reporter’s personal conviction or bias. Moreover, a respectable newspaper has a moral commitment to be impartial and truthful. The Daily Lobo has failed to honor its duty by publishing an improvised, poorly documented article full of biased opinions, and later manipulating information by publishing only selected excerpts from people’s complaints. We believe these actions are shameful and demand a formal apology.
Peru is a country characterized by the warmth of its people, its beautiful territory, colorful traditions, rich culture and history. Peru has poverty, domestic violence and even traffic chaos just like almost every other country. These are issues the country is fighting to overcome and do not disqualify all Peru has to offer to tourists. The author should have acknowledged in his article that his time in Peru is not representative of the culture as a whole. The author’s arrogance is reflected in his wishes for a “better God” for Peruvians to worship, his questioning of other people’s “career choices” and his last paragraph, which out of respect for other citizens of this country, we won’t quote in this letter.
The Daily Lobo failed to act as the provider of unbiased and fair information by publishing the article. Moreover, by arbitrarily censoring excerpts of people’s complaints (while not doing the same for supportive comments) the Daily Lobo acted in an unethical manner. The Daily Lobo has also denied us the right to publish a response article in the same space as the article in mention was published. We hope this letter will be published entirely.
We hope the Daily Lobo’s readers will assign the correct value to the article in mention, and that some will accept our invitation to travel to Peru and enjoy all we have to offer.
Victor Murray
UNM faculty
Simon Barriga
UNM faculty
Alonzo Vera
UNM alumnus
Attilio Ferrari
UNM alumnus
Mayra Salazar
UNM student
Fiorella Vera
UNM student
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Jose Cornejo
UNM staff
Flor Espinoza
UNM student
Alicia Paz
UNM student
Mariela Ruiz
UNM student
Hilda Paucar
UNM student
Carla Agurto
UNM student
Eduardo Castro
UNM student
Editor’s note: Contrary to how it was presented originally, the Peru piece was a column, not an article. It should be understood that this was a feature, the reporter’s firsthand account of a trip to Peru and not meant to present hard facts about the country.
Note from reporter Andrew Beale: First of all, I absolutely believe that Peru is a beautiful country, and I know that the great majority of Peruvians are kind, generous and intelligent people. I did not mean to denigrate the culture or beauty of the country, nor did I mean to attack or insult the Peruvian people. I wrote the column the way I did because I was genuinely shocked by some of the things I saw and learned when I visited the country, and I feel that many Americans are sadly unaware of the problems faced in countries that do not enjoy the same economic advantages the U.S. has. I realize that I made some mistakes in the tone of the column, and I understand that what I wrote might be interpreted as an attack on a country or a people. This was not at all my intention. I do not believe that Peruvian culture is in any way inferior to American culture, and the reason I wrote about Peru instead of any other country is simply because that is where I had the opportunity to go.
I feel that my mistake did not lie in writing about poverty and the problems faced in the cities I visited. Instead, my mistake was in not emphasizing the beauty and cultural richness of the country. While in Peru I saw great art, heard great music, ate great food, and met great people. The site of Machu Picchu is certainly one of the most architecturally and culturally impressive collections of structures in the world.
Poverty in Peru, as in many Central and South American countries, is a real problem that deserves to be acknowledged in the press. However, I feel that I made some mistakes in the way I presented my experiences.
