Mary McAleese tells New York Times: Shame on you for Berkeley article
Former Irish President Mary McAleese has said the New York Times "should be hanging its head in shame" for its controversial article on the Berkeley balcony collapse.
The newspaper has attracted widespread criticism of its report on the accident which linked the partying lifestyle of Irish J1 students to the deaths of six young students.
The report also claimed the J1 visa programme had become “a source of embarrassment for Ireland”.
In a letter to the newspaper, Mrs McAleese said: "Today in Ireland we are hanging our heads in shock and sorrow at the needless deaths of six of our brightest and best young adults and the serious injuries to others.
"Today the New York Times should be hanging its head in shame at how outrageously and without the remotest evidence it has rushed to judgment on those deaths.
"I was a J-1 visa student in California over 40 years ago.
"Tens of thousands of Irish J-1 students have spent happy summers there over the years since.
"By far the vast majority have been a credit to Ireland and only the very tiniest minority have not.
"Yet within hours of the most appalling tragedy in the history of the J-1 visa program, when the one salient fact to speak for itself is the ludicrous collapse of a fourth floor balcony in a relatively new building, New York Times journalists reached for the lazy tabloid stereotype and heaped deliberate injustice on top of the most awful grief.
"Shame on you.
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In a statement to the Irish Examiner newspaper yesterday, the New York Times said the article was a "second-day story" following the collapse.
"It was intended to explain in greater detail why these young Irish students were in the US," its vice president of corporate communications, Eileen Murphy, said.
"We understand and agree that some of the language in the piece could be interpreted as insensitive, particularly in such close proximity to this tragedy.
"It was never our intention to blame the victims and we apologize if the piece left that impression.
"We will continue to cover this story and report on the young people who lost their lives."
