The New York Times reportedly looks to pivot from collusion to race
Insight from Don Gainor, vice president for business and culture at the Media Research Center.
The New York Times is under fire for updating a story about the Tea Party after its original version was apparently criticized for not being harsh enough against the conservative movement.
The Times, which made news this week when it was revealed to be infested with bed bugs, seemingly set itself a precedent earlier this month when it changed a headline about President Trump's response to mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton when liberals thought it was too kind on the president.
Then, on Wednesday, the newspaper was forced to update another story, and many are blaming left-wing critics who chimed in on Twitter after reading the original version.
“We have updated this story assessing the policy failures of the Tea Party movement 10 years after its rise to include context about attacks on President Barack Obama and racist displays at some Tea Party rallies,” the Times’ Politics verified Twitter account announced.
The story, by Jeremy W. Peters, headlined “The Tea Party Didn’t Get What It Wanted, but It Did Unleash the Politics of Anger,” details the 10-year-old movement.
Journalist Dave Levitan was among the people outraged over the initial version, writing: “I know the Times doesn't like to call anything racist, but jfc this look back at the Tea Party goes to some ABSURD lengths to avoid the obvious fact that they just didn't like the black guy in office!”
It’s unclear what specific changes were made, but the new version describes people at Tea Party rallies “waving signs with racist caricatures and references” and says the party helped provide cover for people who simply opposed “first black president.”
The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Once the story was updated, critics quickly took to Twitter to mock the Gray Lady.
“Repeatedly letting itself get bullied into changing its coverage for the left is not a good look for the NYT,” RealClearInvestigations senior writer Mark Hemingway wrote.
Earlier this month the Times changed a headline on a story about Trump’s comments in the wake of the tragic mass shootings, in which the president denounced hate and white supremacy. The front page of the paper's first edition bore the headline “Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism."
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A photograph of the first edition was tweeted out by journalist Nate Silver and was quickly slammed by critics who accused the Gray Lady of inaccurately representing Trump’s comments. Some Twitter users even threatened to cancel their subscriptions and urged others to do the same.
Hours later, the second edition was changed to “Assailing Hate But Not Guns.” Its website also showed a similar headline: “Trump Condemns Bigotry but Doesn’t Call for Major New Guns Laws.”
Fox News’ Gerren Keith Gaynor contributed to this report.