by Spencer Irvine on June 3, 2020

The New York Times demonstrated its political sensitivity when it changed a headline after criticism from Democratic Party lawmakers.

New York Times print editor Tom Jolly tweeted a preview of the newspaper, which was met with derision from Democratic lawmakers such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), former 2020 presidential candidates Julian Castro and Beto O’Rourke, and Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii).

When the newspaper went to print, the initial headline was changed from “As Chaos Spreads, Trump Votes to ‘End It Now’” to “Trump Threatens to Send Troops into States.”

Outlets including CNN, ABC News, CBS News and NBC News failed to cover the motivation behind the headline change. Nor did the New York Times issue a statement regarding the headline’s change. Only the New York Post and Fox News covered the headline change.

It is not the first time the newspaper has backed down in the face of Democratic Party criticism.

In mid-April, the newspaper admitted that it edited a report on Biden’s alleged sexual assault allegations after the Biden campaign objected to the newspaper’s word choice. The newspaper did not issue an editor’s note because its executive editor, Dean Baquet, “didn’t think that was necessary.”


Spencer Irvine

Spencer Irvine graduated from Brigham Young University in International Relations and currently works as a staff writer for Accuracy in Media.

This article is republished with permission from our friends at Accuracy In Media