Correct False Wall Street Journal Claim That Hondurans Support Coup

Just Foreign Policy, July 13, 2009

Last week, the Wall Street Journal falsely reported that a plurality of Hondurans supported the military coup against President Zelaya. The Journal reported: "Complicating matters, Honduran media published a CID-Gallup poll that showed 41% of Hondurans said the coup was justified, while 28% were opposed. The survey, conducted between June 30 and July 4, supported anecdotal evidence of anger at Mr. Zelaya."

But that's not what the poll said. It found a plurality of Hondurans - 46% - were opposed to the coup. This was reported correctly by the New York Times [2], Associated Press [3], and the Voice of America [4], which actually interviewed the president of CID-Gallup.

Can you join us in asking the Wall Street Journal for a correction of its inaccurate report? You can ask the Wall Street Journal for a correction by clicking the following link:

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/gallup-wsj

The false Wall Street Journal report seems to have originated in the Honduran newspaper La Prensa. But the Wall Street Journal should have checked before simply repeating what La Prensa said. Of course, even if a poll showed that a plurality of Hondurans supported the coup, that would not make the coup legitimate. But to misreport the opinion of the Honduran public is to misreport a fundamental fact about the situation, and it is important that such an error be corrected. [5]

Please join us in asking the Wall Street Journal to print a correction.

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/gallup-wsj

Thank you for all you do for a just foreign policy.

References:

1) "Honduran Officials Begin Talks on Country's Political Future," David Luhnow, Wall Street Journal, Friday, July 10, 2009,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124718543706320515.html

2) "Honduras Conflict Talks Yield Little Movement," Ginger Thompson, New York Times, July 10, 2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/11/world/americas/11honduras.html

3) "No easy end in sight for Honduras coup crisis," Marianela Jimenez, AP, July 12, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD99C37KO0

4) "41-46: Honduras un país dividido," Diana Logreira and Gesell Tobías, VOA, July 9, 2009,
http://www1.voanews.com/spanish/news/latin-america/Honduras-pais-dividido-golpe-estado-zelaya-50408857.html

5) "U.S. Press Falsely Claims Honduran Plurality for Coup," Just Foreign Policy, July 13, 2009
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/258