Statement by The New Yorker
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The New Yorker issued the following statement in response to Howard Cooper's letter:
Manifold Destiny,a 10,000-word article by Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber published in the August 28, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, is the product of more than four months of thorough, careful reporting and meticulous fact-checking. Ms. Nasar and Mr. Gruber spent over twenty hours interviewing Dr. Yau; they conducted approximately 100 other interviews with people in the field; corresponded by email with Dr. Yau and many others; and traveled to China where they conducted interviews and attended speeches and events discussed in the article. In addition, the magazine's fact-checkers spoke with Dr. Yau for approximately eight hours, they examined notes, tapes, and documents gathered by the authors, and the checkers conducted their own thorough research. Contrary to Dr. Yau's assertions, the article is nuanced and fair, and was prepared using ethical standards of journalism. Dr. Yau, his supporters and his point of view were given ample space in the article.
We stand by the piece and the journalists.
See also Business News from Boston Herald:
Math prof says New Yorker defamed him
By Jesse Noyes
Boston Herald Business Reporter
Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - Updated: 07:19 PM EST
A Harvard University mathematics professor is accusing The New Yorker of defaming him in an Aug. 28 article about a noteworthy mathematical proof.
Math professor Shing-Tung Yau’s Boston-based lawyer Howard Cooper wrote a letter to the magazine demanding it prominently print numerous corrections and apologize for an “insulting illustration” that accompanied the article.
Entitled “Manifold Destiny: A legendary problem and the battle over who solved it,” the article dealt with how Yau - and two of his students - allegedly attempted to share credit for solving a mathematical problem called the Poincare conjecture with Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman.
David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker, said yesterday he had only recently received Cooper’s letter, but the magazine “painstakingly checked the facts” in the Aug. 28 article “as we do with all pieces in The New Yorker.”
“I would have assumed that Professor Yau and his attorney would have waited for a full response to their letter before forwarding it to the press,” Remnick said.
Cooper’s letter says there’s never been a battle over credit for the solution. It says the authors of the article, Pulitzer-prize winner Sylvia Nasar, who wrote “A Beautiful Mind,” and David Gruberdidn’t give the Harvard professor a chance to respond to charges within the story. In the letter, Cooper asks the authors to meet with him and Yau. Though the letter doesn’t say that Yau will pursue a lawsuit, it leaves the door open.
Cooper is the lawyer who represented Judge Ernest Murphy in a successful libel lawsuit against the Herald last year, a verdict that the paper is appealing.
评论 (0)