Indigenous Amazon tribe says New York Times story led to its members being smeared as porn addicts
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An Indigenous tribe from the Brazilian Amazon has sued The New York Times, saying the newspaper’s reporting on the tribe’s first exposure to the internet led to its members being widely portrayed as technology-addled and addicted to pornography.The Marubo Tribe of the Javari Valley, a sovereign community of about 2,000 people in the rainforest, filed the defamation lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages this week in a court in Los Angeles.It also names TMZ and Yahoo as defendants, alleging that their stories amplified and sensationalized the Times’ reporting and smeared the tribe in the process.The suit says the Times’ June 2024 story by reporter Jack Nicas on how the group was handling the introduction of satellite service through Elon Musk’s Starlink “portrayed the Marubo people as a community unable to handle basic exposure to the internet, highlighting allegations that their youth had become consumed by pornography.”“These statements were not only inflammatory but conveyed to the average reader that the Marubo people had descended into moral and social decline as a direct result of internet access,” an amended version of the lawsuit filed Thursday says.“Such portrayals go far beyond cultural commentary; they directly attack the character, morality, and social standing of an entire people, suggesting they lack the discipline or values to function in the modern world.”In a statement to The Associated Press, a Times spokesperson said: “Any fair reading of this piece shows a sensitive and nuanced exploration of the benefits and complications of new technology in a remote Indigenous village with a proud history and preserved culture.
We intend to vigorously defend against the lawsuit.”The theme of Nicas’ story was that after less than a year of service, the community was now facing the same kinds of struggles with the pervasive effects of the internet and the proliferation of smartphones that ...