No Lock-Out Coverage for Obama in NY Times, But Bush's Door Flub Was Front Page News

March 25th, 2011 4:51 PM

President Obama arrived home to the White House on Wednesday from his five-day trip to Latin America and found himself locked out of the French doors to the Oval Office, as captured by several news organizations.

My Media Research Center colleague Tim Graham reminded me that back on Nov. 21, 2005, the New York Times published on its front page a photo of President George W. Bush making a face after trying to leave a press conference in Beijing through a locked door, accompanied by an article that mentioned the gaffe. Former CBS reporter Bernard Goldberg wrote a letter to the editor at the time to complain:

The Times published a four-panel picture on Page 1 that extended over two columns and ran some 12 inches from the masthead more than halfway down the page showing President Bush trying to exit a meeting with reporters in Beijing -- through a locked door....Did it occur to anyone in charge -- and for that matter, does it occur to anyone at The Times even now -- that this is precisely what gives your critics ammunition?....on Page 1, whatever your editors' intentions, it sure looks like an editorial posing as news.

Yet not only has the Times not put an image of Obama’s flub on the front page, a nytimes.com search indicates that as of Friday afternoon Obama’s lock-out has neither been shown or even mentioned by the Times, either in print or online.