The situation started innocuously enough with a lovely article last week: "Why Istanbul Should Be Called Catstantinople: Turkish city can’t quit delighting in felines; ‘like being a cow in India’" by Joe Parkinson (Twitter https://twitter.com/joewsj)
Sadly, one of the interviewees who founded a Facebook Group called "Cihangir ... Cool for Cats" felt betrayed by the reporter and wrote a letter to WSJ as follows:
As you can read / view, the article accentuated the good nature of the people of Istanbul and how they feed and help the cats. So far, so good.
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| Comfy and fed by strangers by the Sea of Marmara |
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| Enjoying last winter's sun |
Sadly, one of the interviewees who founded a Facebook Group called "Cihangir ... Cool for Cats" felt betrayed by the reporter and wrote a letter to WSJ as follows:
"I have just been sent this article, for which I wasted two whole days with your staff.... not only is it inaccurate but most of what was said is the total opposite of this lazy piece of 'reportage'.... I have written to Joe directly to tell him he should be ashamed of himself... he represented the piece as an article that would help the terrible situation that exists for the million or so homeless animals in Istanbul and instead he shows it as some kind of paradise... we struggle every single day with cruelty, ignorance and sickness and he was told this... I look forward to hearing from you with a view to a retraction and printing of the truth."
While one side of the story, the human/cat interest side was well portrayed, the other side about the plight of the million-plus homeless animals in Istanbul was not documented and the founder of "Cool for Cats" seems to feel rightly betrayed by the reporter.
So far there has been but silence from WSJ and Joe Parkinson. In the words of the founder this evening:
"the silence form WSJ has been deafening and coincidentally my cihangir cats profile has been suspended by facebook pending my confirmation that this is my real name.... *sigh*" (my bold and large print)
Whoa! Her profile has been suspended by Facebook. Coincidence? I do hope so.
I ask WSJ and Mr. Parkinson to respond publicly so we can allay any suspicion that WSJ would ever do such a thing as to force/ask Facebook to suspend a profile of what is a humane "cat lady" trying to help homeless animals in Istanbul. The 2500+ members of the Facebook Group would also be happy to read WSJ's response to the written request.
By the way, a better title would have used the current city name: "Catstanbul" rather than the archaic "Catsantinople".
Over to you at WSJ and also Mr. Parkinson. I do hope you find it in yourselves to respond to her letter publicly and clear up any misunderstandings.
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| Waiting Earnestly |
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| Dogs too |
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