The New York Times went to press for Tuesday’s print edition with the banner headline “Trump Urges Unity Vs. Racism.” But that accurate summation of what President Trump said about the mass murders in El Paso and Dayton did not please the left on Twitter, which demanded “context” about Trump actually being a racist demagogue.
And the Times, which relies on the left for its readership, swiftly obeyed, showing repentance by admitting “The headline was bad” and changing it for the second morning edition (though many national versions arrived in driveways with the initial “offensive” headline intact).
Under the left-wing Twitter pressure, fostered by a tweet from polling expert Nate Silver, the paper swiftly updated the headline to a more Trump-skeptical headline “Assailing Hate, But Not Guns.”
Here is the first edition and headline:
Here is the second edition of the paper with the revised headline:
The Washington Post’s Allyson Chiu reported on the Times’s ignominious retreat early Tuesday morning: under the headline “‘The headline was bad’: New York Times amends front page on Trump’s response to mass shootings after backlash.”
Chiu wrote:
The New York Times weathered intense backlash Monday night for its front-page headline about President Trump’s response to the pair of mass shootings that read: “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM.”
A preview of Tuesday’s front page shared to social media sparked instant criticism from members of the public, journalists and politicians, including several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates....
Chiu reprinted the Silver tweet that got the ball rolling leftward against the paper:
Not sure "TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM" is how I would have framed the story. pic.twitter.com/quOibXsp32 -- Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 6, 2019
About an hour after the headline went viral, the Times announced it had amended its wording.
“The headline was bad and has been changed for the second edition,” a spokesperson for the Times told The Washington Post in an email.
Later editions of the print paper feature the words, “ASSAILING HATE BUT NOT GUNS.” Subheads above the two stories about Trump’s speech were also changed.
Opportunistic Democratic candidates for president also weighed in via Twitter, mostly forwarding Silver’s original tweet. Here’s Cory Booker: “Lives literally depend on you doing better, NYT. Please do.”
And if you were breathless wondering what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to say, fear not, there’s a tweet:
Let this front page serve as a reminder of how white supremacy is aided by -- and often relies upon -- the cowardice of mainstream institutions.
