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Washington Briefing : Former Editor Doug Frantz Probing Nuclear Smug

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  • Washington Briefing : Former Editor Doug Frantz Probing Nuclear Smug

    WASHINGTON BRIEFING : FORMER EDITOR DOUG FRANTZ PROBING NUCLEAR SMUGGLING FOR SENATE COMMITTEE
    by Emil Sanamyan

    http://www.reporter.am/index.cfm?objecti d=81AC9600-93C7-11DE-8CE10003FF3452C2
    Friday August 28, 2009

    Washington - The former Los Angeles Times editor who stirred up
    controversy in the Armenian community is now working for the
    Senate Foreign Relations Committee led by Senator John Kerry
    (D.-Mass.) According to the committee website, Douglas Frantz was
    hired by the committee early this year as chief investigator to probe
    financing of nuclear smuggling and other illegal activities.

    Mr. Frantz caused controversy in April 2007 after he reassigned a major
    story on the Armenian Genocide resolution, initially assigned to Times
    journalist Mark Arax, to another writer. In an e-mail that was later
    made public, Mr. Frantz alleged that Mr. Arax had a "position on this
    issue" that caused a "conflict of interests." (Mr. Frantz's new boss,
    Senator Kerry, is a strong supporter of Armenian Genocide affirmation.)

    Mr. Arax had in turn alleged that Mr. Frantz himself may have had
    a bias on the issue, having spent years working as a reporter in
    Turkey and that he was "heavily involved and invested in defending
    the policies of Turkey."

    In subsequent months, a number of Armenian-Americans, including
    the Armenian Reporter's editorial page, called on the Times to take
    "decisive action" in the case. Mr. Frantz resigned in June 2007.

    Mr. Frantz was initially expected to become the Istanbul-based Middle
    East bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal. But he instead joined
    the then newly launched (and since closed) Conde Nast Portfolio
    magazine as senior writer and authored a book on the black market in
    nuclear technology.

    For his part, Mr. Arax also left the Times in June 2007. Last April
    he published his third book, this one about life in California.
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