The New York Times published a story Tuesday referring to Hamas as “Hamas terrorists” before revising it to “Hamas gunmen.” The Times revised the story a second time on Wednesday to “Hamas terrorists” after backlash.
Hamas, an Islamist political and military organization currently governing the Gaza Strip, is designated as a terrorist origination by the United States, along with most Western nations.
Nevertheless, the Times removed its Hamas terror label and replaced it with “gunman.”
The Times story first read, “As Israeli soldiers regain control of areas near Gaza that came under attack, they are finding evidence seen in videos and photos and confirmed by witness accounts of the massacre of civilians by Hamas terrorists.”
The Times later edited the story to, “As Israeli soldiers regain control of areas near Gaza that came under attack, they are finding evidence seen in videos and photos and confirmed by witness accounts of the massacre of civilians by Hamas gunmen.”
On Wednesday, the newspaper reversed course, and replaced “Hamas gunmen” with “Hamas terrorists,” after a post on Twitter went viral depicting the previous edit.
🚨Holy shit you can’t make this up.
The New York Times published a story referring to Hamas as “terrorists” and then changed it to “gunmen.” pic.twitter.com/zp7vQUrHn3
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 11, 2023
The Times is known for controversial editorial decisions. In 2021, it labeled first lady Jill Biden a “doctor” while not giving ophthalmologist Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) the same courtesy.
The paper politicized Old Glory in 2021 by suggesting that “flying the American flag from the back of a pickup truck or over a lawn is increasingly seen as a clue… to a person’s political affiliation.”
The Times appeared to protect the Bidens in 2018. Hunter Biden’s attorney, George Mesires, reassured him the Times would not link President Joe Biden to the family business with a Chinese energy company, according to a report citing alleged deleted data from Hunter’s infamous laptop.
In June 2023, the paper avoided posting stories on its homepages about IRS whistleblower allegations of political interference by the Justice Department (DOJ) on behalf of the Biden family.
According to recent polling, the Times suffers from a lack of trust. Six out of ten Americans say the establishment media are to blame for misinformation. While 60 percent say the establishment media are to blame for misinforming the public, a similar number say they bear responsibility for addressing it.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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