Layers of editors and fact-checkers at the Columbus (OH) Dispatch and others involved in its production "somehow" failed to detect the creation of an obviously false caption to a campaign rally photo of Donald Trump taken by a St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer.
The photo, taken on Friday at Trump's St. Louis appearance by the Post-Dispatch's David Carson, had the following caption, apparently added surreptitiously, when it appeared in print at the Columbus Dispatch: "Donald Trump addresses a campaign rally in St. Louis. He was scheduled to go to Chicago for a rally, but canceled as his supporters became violent."
If any press story covering the Chicago rally's cancellation, for which supporters of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders have gleefully taken credit, has claimed that Trump's supporters "became violent" first or engaged in any serious acts of violence remotely comparable to that seen from those whose stated goal was to shut down the rally, I haven't seen it.
Here is the photo with the original caption present at the St. Lous Post-Dispatch's web site (photo number 40 in a series of 46 photos):
The caption reads: "Donald Trump addresses his supporters during a campaign rally at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis on Friday, March 11, 2016."
Carson points out that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch "didn't run the photo in print."
Here is the photo and caption as they appeared in print at the Columbus Dispatch (HT Gateway Pundit):
Carson has also tweeted: "... for the record false caption on the Trump photo was not written by me." Additonally, for emphasis: "I disavow it, I'm pissed someone is using my pix with false captions."
Carson tweeted Darrel Rowland, the Public Affairs Editor at the Columbus Dispatch: "Dear @darreldrowland, it was my photo that had a false caption attached to it, I would also like to hear from you."
Rowland's initial response: "Been offline in NE Ohio most of day, sorry...I know nothing about it but just told all my eds about the situation."
Carson has also asked readers check the Columbus Dispatch's Twitter feed, @DispatchAlerts. As of 8:50 a.m., there was no acknowledgment of the caption problem, let alone how it got inserted or who did it.
Carson somehow has narrowed the perpetrator down to a specific location: "Someone on the design desk in Austin, Tx designing a page for the Columbus Dispatch." He shouldn't stop pushing until he gets a name, an apology, and an acknowledgment that the person involved has been fired.
Hopefully, there will be consequences this time around, unlike last summer in Iowa, when Ted Cruz was the object of an Associated Press photographer's "accidental" photo angle:
Isn't it amazing how items that get through the layers of editors and fact-checkers almost invariably smear or ridicule Republicans and conservatives?
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
