NY Times “Misleading” Photo of Patriot’s White House Visit
Wednesday's Example of Media Bias — Posted on April 26, 2017
From two posts by Don Irvine at AIM.org:
The New England Patriots blasted The New York Times for tweeting what they said were misleading photos of the team’s visit to the White House last week, in an effort to make it appear that a large swath of the players and staff were boycotting the event in protest of President Donald Trump.
Here is the picture [The New York Times] tweeted of the team’s visit in 2015 with President Obama, and Wednesday’s photo with President Trump:
The Patriots [said] the photos aren’t comparable because the staff was seated on the South Lawn this year, not standing with the team as they did in 2015:
To drive the point home further, the Patriots also tweeted a photo of the team with President George W. Bush in 2004—the last time they won two Super Bowls in three years:
It’s not uncommon these days for players to skip or boycott the White House trip for personal or political reasons, but the Times’ effort to make it appear that there was a massive boycott of President Trump by the team, when they knew it wasn’t true, shows that the Times prefers fake news over the truth.
Questions
1. What type of bias did the New York Times display in the misleading photo comparison between the Patriots visiting Obama White House and the Patriots visiting Trump White House? (see our "Media Bias" page --scroll down for types of bias.)
2. Accuracy in Media's Don Irvine points out:
"The day after the Patriots pointed out the Times’ bias, sports editor John Stallman took responsibility in an email to The Washington Post:
Bad tweet by me. Terrible tweet. I wish I could say it’s complicated, but no, this one is pretty straightforward: I’m an idiot. It was my idea, it was my execution, it was my blunder. I made a decision in about four minutes that clearly warranted much more time.
Once we learned more, we tried to fix everything as much as possible as swiftly as possible and as transparently as possible. Of course, at that point the damage was done. I just needed to own it.
If Stallman hadn’t been in such a rush to make a political statement out of the Patriots visit, he could have avoided the embarrassment to both himself and the Times.”
Why do you think the Times' editor was trying so hard to point out what he sees as disdain for President Trump?
3. Do you think Times editor Stallman would have issued this type of retraction if the Patriots had not called him out? Explain your answer.