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Did White House pressure NYT into changing Dover story?
Hot Air ^ | 10-30-09 | Ed Morrissey

Posted on 10/30/2009 8:59:02 PM PDT by STARWISE

Originally, the New York Times reported on President Barack Obama’s visit to Dover AFB and the arrival of fallen serviceman by explaining that the White House wanted Obama to be seen as concerned and aware of the sacrifices made in America’s war policies:

A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. Obama to Dover, where he arrived at 12:34 a.m. aboard Marine One. He returned to the South Lawn of the White House at 4:45 a.m.

<…>

The images and the sentiment of the president’s five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the nation that Mr. Obama was not making his Afghanistan decision lightly or in haste.

.

Following that link now, the second paragraph quoted is nowhere to be seen.

The Jeff Zeleny report contains no editorial announcement of changes after its publication, and no indication of any retraction.

Greyhawk at Mudville Gazette and Nice Deb both noticed the change, however, and Greyhawk also noticed that the NYT didn’t quite redact that paragraph from everywhere on its servers. The story now reads like this:

The trip was a symbolic one for Mr. Obama, given the gravity of his coming announcement of a new strategy for Afghanistan.

The image of the commander in chief standing on a darkened tarmac, offering a salute to one of the soldiers, highlighted the poignancy of a decision he is facing.

But even after the redaction, this came up in a search on the NYT site:

So who changed the story, and why?

The original Zeleny report with that paragraph gave credence to the accusation that Obama made the Dover trip for a photo op, picked up by bloggers to criticize the White House.

Its mysterious disappearance post-publication indicates that someone was unhappy with that kind of criticism and removed the paragraph to curtail it — and didn’t do a very good job of it, either.

The editors of the NYT could have removed it on their own without prompting from anyone, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense. The editors approved the piece for publication in the first place, and besides, the NYT isn’t exactly adept at quickly responding to blogospheric criticism, at least not on its news pages (their blogs are a different matter).

It would appear that someone other than bloggers brought this to the attention of the Times and pressed for the removal of the offending paragraph.

That might also explain why the Times changed the article without acknowledging it, a big red flag in itself.

The NYT should answer for why this change was made, and why they attempted to fly it under the radar. If the paragraph was inaccurate, a retraction should have accompanied it.

If it wasn’t inaccurate, then who pressed them to remove it?


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: attentionwhore; barrysoetoro; bhonotworthy; braveheroes; doverafb; marxist; military; newyorktimes; obama; photoop; pos; poser; radicalliar; rih; troops
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Meanwhile, the lives of these heroes and their families hang in the balance, while wondering if their cic will be golfing and frolicking again this weekend as they battle, suffer and shed their blood to survive and defeat the Muslim beasts in treacherous conditions, awaiting their majesty's decision.

God bless and protect our heroes. Their faces break my heart.

1 posted on 10/30/2009 8:59:03 PM PDT by STARWISE
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To: kristinn; penelopesire; seekthetruth; television is just wrong; jcsjcm; BP2; Pablo Mac; ...
~~Ping!


2 posted on 10/30/2009 9:02:52 PM PDT by STARWISE (The Art & Science Institute of Chicago Politics NE Div: now open at the White House)
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To: STARWISE

The expressions on the men’s faces tell the whole story ...


3 posted on 10/30/2009 9:03:50 PM PDT by Ken522
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To: STARWISE

They don’t look too impressed with the man-child President. God bless them and keep them safe.


4 posted on 10/30/2009 9:05:23 PM PDT by Fu-fu2
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To: Fu-fu2; All

Related:

Obama Brought Media Horde to Dover; Widow Revoked Permission When Told of Obama Presence
Friday, October 24, 2009 | Kristinn

Posted on Friday, October 30, 2009 12:36:44 PM by kristinn

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374703/posts


5 posted on 10/30/2009 9:09:12 PM PDT by STARWISE (The Art & Science Institute of Chicago Politics NE Div: now open at the White House)
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To: STARWISE
Some things just can't be done over.


6 posted on 10/30/2009 9:12:36 PM PDT by swheats (America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!)
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To: STARWISE
God bless and protect our heroes. Their faces break my heart.

Wonder if he'd dither if either or both of his daughters were serving in Afghanistan (I know, highly unlikely supposition). It appears prayer will be the only support these fine young men and women will be receiving in the immediate future. Healthcare be damned - THIS should be the #1 priority - period!

May the democrats reap what they sow at upcoming elections on Tuesday! Somehow, some way, these "politicians" need to be shown what is important and what is not.

7 posted on 10/30/2009 9:40:37 PM PDT by MamaDearest
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To: STARWISE
Photobucket

God help these brave men. Hopefully they won't provide the TOFUS with another photo op at Dover.

8 posted on 10/30/2009 9:49:12 PM PDT by erman (Give a man a fire, warm him for one night. Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.)
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To: Ken522

9 posted on 10/30/2009 9:53:14 PM PDT by mojitojoe (“Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.” - Vladimir Lenin)
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To: STARWISE
You think the NYT was cowed by the Obama White House?

C'mon. Who's going to believe that.

10 posted on 10/30/2009 9:58:11 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all. -- Texas Eagle)
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To: Fu-fu2
They don’t look too impressed with the man-child President.

Maybe he should have gone back to the well with the whole hope & change routine?

11 posted on 10/30/2009 10:09:47 PM PDT by cartervt2k
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To: STARWISE
God bless and protect our heroes. Their faces break my heart.

They didn't look like that...before...

Even when things were just insane, particularly in '05 and '06, they didn't look like that.

12 posted on 10/30/2009 10:22:27 PM PDT by Allegra (It doesn't matter what this tagline says...the liberals are going to call it "racist.")
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To: Allegra

“the White House wanted Obama to be seen as concerned and aware of the sacrifices made in America’s war policies’

PHONY, PHONY, PHONY. Our Military is smarter than Big Media. They see through the phony CIC and the NYT doesn’t. God bless our Military and keep them safe as they keep us safe.


13 posted on 10/30/2009 10:31:29 PM PDT by originalbuckeye
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To: Allegra

PS=they always knew GWB CARED. Zero is just looking for photo-ops.


14 posted on 10/30/2009 10:32:09 PM PDT by originalbuckeye
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To: erman; 444Flyer; Las Vegas Ron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qBbowFNwsU

See how thrilled they are to see the POS.


15 posted on 10/30/2009 10:37:02 PM PDT by mojitojoe (“Medicine is the keystone of the arch of socialism.” - Vladimir Lenin)
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To: Allegra
NEVER .. not in the presence of their CIC who honored, respected, loved and supported them fully. And I KNOW how well you know that.

God bless and protect you and all our incredible troops... Hugs.

16 posted on 10/30/2009 10:52:08 PM PDT by STARWISE (The Art & Science Institute of Chicago Politics NE Div: now open at the White House)
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To: MamaDearest

The politicians can’t reap what they sow when their sowing costs young American lives. Politics have no place in war decisions, but only politics matter to this administration. We are “ruled” (certainly not served) by people with not one conscience among them.


17 posted on 10/30/2009 10:57:16 PM PDT by JohnQ1 (Pray for peace, prepare for war.)
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To: mojitojoe

lol. You can’t fake that kind of disinterest.


18 posted on 10/30/2009 11:10:59 PM PDT by 444Flyer ("Permission to engage the enemy Sir! " " Permission denied." (Under CIC Obamao.))
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To: STARWISE
Obama pronounces Navy Corpsman... “Navy Corpse-men” during speech to Navy/Marines in Florida on Monday. Goes to Dover on Wednesday:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2371972/posts?page=19#19

19 posted on 10/30/2009 11:25:53 PM PDT by 444Flyer ("Permission to engage the enemy Sir! " " Permission denied." (Under CIC Obamao.))
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To: STARWISE

“17 of 18 Families of the Fallen Denied Obama His Photo-Op at Dover”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373908/posts


20 posted on 10/30/2009 11:34:21 PM PDT by 444Flyer ("Permission to engage the enemy Sir! " " Permission denied." (Under CIC Obamao.))
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