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While @TheArtNewspaper's initial reporting on Latchford's death was shameful, THIS one is full of claims that are demonstratably untrue. I've never called for a retraction before. This one warrants that and an apology. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/douglas-latchford-reactions
1) Claim: "Back in 2013, @TheArtNewspaper was the first media outlet... to publish a comprehensive account of the looting of Koh Ker."
2) Fact. Tom Mashberg & Ralph Blumenthal broke this story on the front page of the New York Times in 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/arts/design/sothebys-caught-in-dispute-over-prized-cambodian-statue.html
3) Fact. Paul Vrieze of the Cambodia Daily, who had been pursuing the story himself along with Mashberg and Blumenthal, followed directly after, again in March 2012.
4) Following @nytimesarts' initial break, Mashberg and Blumenthal did over a dozen followup stories, a number of which again made the front page. Mashberg even journeyed to Cambodia that same year—again a year before @TheArtNewspaper claims it broke the "comprehensive account."
5) This was happening alongside dedicated investigations by @jasonfelch then of the @latimes, which along with @nytimesarts revealed the existence of pieces looted from Koh Ker in museums from coast to coast. Still in 2012.
6) @TheArtNewspaper also claims: "A member of the NY DA’s Office said that the [2013] article, which included a series of damning internal emails from Sotheby’s, might 'well have helped the auction house to do the right thing.'
7) Fact. Sotheby's internal e-mails came out not in @TheArtNewspaper, but in a federal complaint, which was issued in April 2012 then amended with additional information in November. Which broke, by the way, in @nytimes (again by Mashberg and Blumenthal).
8) Oh and you have the wrong prosecutors. The case was not tried by the New York DA's Office (as much as we love them!) but by @SDNYnews. And, again, this happened a YEAR before @TheArtNewspaper's "investigation."
9) I had the honor of working with the agents, prosecutors, officials, archaeologists, journalists, & art market leaders who actually did work TIRELESSLY to investigate and return Koh Ker's treasures. These cases were their life & mine for YEARS.
10) That @TheArtNewspaper takes credit for this work is embarrassing—that it does so while whitewashing the sins of the man who made it necessary is near unforgivable. Please retract & apologize to @TMashberg, Blumenthal, Vrieze, @jasonfelch, @SDNYnews, @ICEgov & all of Cambodia.
11) And yes I mean the entire country of Cambodia. People there put their lives at risk to reveal what happened at Koh Ker—including Latchford's undeniable role.
Can anyone at @TheArtNewspaper say that?
Can anyone at @TheArtNewspaper say that?
12) Sorry I keep finding more errors. You spelled the capital of Cambodia wrong. It's Phnom Penh with an "h."
