Recently, Alice Linari’s name has been in the limelight because of one article written in the New York Times by contributor Michaelreporting on his travels in India. Michael reported that Linari, a Brazilian-American freelance journalist for the Times, was staying with some family in Delhi, eating traditional South Indian food, when the government cracked down on “unprofessional” foreigners who were trying to enter the country illegally. At the time of the article, Alice Linari was not officially registered as an Indian national, despite her American citizenship. Michael ended up quitting his job as a foreign freelancer due to this unfortunate event. But what does the New York Times have to do with all this? Not much really.
The New York Times, like many mainstream and alternative press publications, generally downplay or completely write off stories that involve a celebrity being accused of something untoward, but this particular case involving Alice Linari takes that to a whole new level. At first glance, it seems that Linari may have been fired from her job for letting Nationality and age slip through her fingers. However, no reputable news source would ever accuse a foreign woman working in the country she is staying in of practicing an unworthy profession such as journalism. As with any respectable profession, there will always be people who try to break the law, and there will always be journalists who are willing to risk their jobs for a scoop, but I find it hard to believe that Alice Linari was fired for breaking any type of rule in regards to her profession as a journalist.
Now then, you might say that the only thing that Alice Linari did wrong was lying about her height by an inch. However, if the New York Times is going to blast her for lying, then they should also blast the Indian government for not enforcing its own laws of its land regarding its own citizens traveling abroad. After all, as far as I’m concerned, any woman who is over two feet should be allowed the freedom to choose where she wants to live and work. Why shouldn’t she be able to choose to be a millionaire too?