Amid fiery backlash, NYT edits a headline
The New York Times weathered intense backlash Monday for its front-page headline about President Donald Trump’s response to the pair of mass shootings that read: “TRUMP URGES UNITYVS. 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, many of whom took issue with how the publication framed Mr. Trump’s comments on the weekend attacks in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left at least 31 people dead and dozens injured. In the aftermath of the tragedies, major media outlets have faced scrutiny from all sides over how they confront Mr. Trump and his often inflammatory rhetoric.
About an hour after the headline went viral, the Times announced that it had changed 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 read “ASSAILING HATE BUT NOT GUNS.” Subheads above the two stories about Mr. Trump’s speechwere also changed.
The original headline appeared to start gaining widespread attention about 9 p.m. when it was posted on Twitter by Five Thirty Eight’ s Nate Silver, who wrote, “Not sure ‘TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM’ is how I would have framed the story.” By early Tuesday, Mr. Silver’s tweet had more than3,000 retweets.
Reading from teleprompter Monday, Mr. Trump spoke about setting “destructive partisanship aside” and using “one voice” to“condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy” — a message that diverged from theslew of divisive and racist statements the president has publicly directed at minorities ranging from immigrants to lawmakers. The president’s scripted address containedno mention of new gunlegislation.
In one of two stories on the speech that appeared under the Times’ headline, reporters Michael Crowley and Maggie Haberman made similar observations, writing that it “seemed unlikely” Mr. Trump’s comments “would reposition him as a unifier when many Americans hold him responsible for inflaming racial division.”
For many, the headline fell short of the expectations placed on media outlets in the Trump era to provide context — and in some cases, fact-checking — when reporting on the president’s remarks.
“This is the ‘Dewey Defeats Truman’ of racism,” Rolling Stone writer Jamil Smith tweeted about the Times’ front page, referencing the Chicago Daily Tribune’s infamous headline gaffe that incorrectly reported the results of the 1948 presidential election.
Mr. Smith wasn’t the only person to rail against the headline.
“Unbelievable,” tweeted former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, on Monday. After a weekend vigil for the El Paso shooting victims, the presidential candidate had strong words for a reporter who asked him what Mr. Trump could do to “make this any better,” responding in part, “You know the [expletive] he’s been saying. ... I don’t know, like, members of the press,what the [expletive]?”
Mr. O’Rourke’s outrage was echoed by fellow presidential hopefuls Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Kirsten aGillibrand, D-N.Y., and New YorkMayor Bill de Blasio.
“Lives literally depend on you doing better, NYT,” Mr. Booker tweeted.
“That’s not what happened,” Ms. Gillibrand tweeted.
Mr. de Blasio tagged the Times’ account and wrote, “What happened to ‘The Truth Is Worth It?‘ Not the truth. Not worth it.”
The headline also drew outcry from many journalists, who called it “inaccurate”and “absurd.”
“PALPATINE URGES UNITY AGAINST REBEL SCUM,” film and TV critic Maureen “Mo” Ryan tweeted, referencing the “Star Wars” villain.
Gizmodo writer Ed Cara predicted the headline “mightvery well be taught in journalism class someday, butnot for a good reason.”
Some critics went as far as canceling their subscriptions to the publication, which triggered a debate over whether that was an appropriate response.
“It doesn’t matter that the underlying journalism is often very good,” one person tweeted. “Headlines matter more than ever. ... Refusing totake that seriously is a sign of a failing institution that is notup to the challenge.”
Several journalists, however, defended the Times.
“One headline writer’s mistake is not cause enough to close the door on an army oftruly great journalists who don’t write the headlines,” tweeted Julie K. Brown, an investigative reporter with theMiami Herald.
Writing a headline also isn’t always that simple, noted Los Angeles Times reporterDel Quentin Wilber.
“Have you ever written a headline?” Mr. Wilber tweeted. “It is hard. You are sitting there, trying to fit the entire story into 4 words. Maybe 3. Depends on characters. You are on crazy deadline. And you are also copyediting the story.”
Crafting a headline is “art,” he wrote in another tweet.
“This headline was penned ... by some poor copy editor on the night shift trying sum up one of the most complicated issues of our time (race, violence, murder, immigration, bigotry, presidential history) in four words,”Mr. Wilber wrote.