It is noteworthy that NYT and some others of its ilk choose to pull this sort of stunt using a web format. Why? Because they figure if they get caught they can pull it and two days later it's forgotton. At least it becomes very difficult to make blame stick to them for very long. Unlike what would happen if they published it in a hard format as paper or magazine.
You'll notice they do the same thing with over the top slurs of republicans. DNC, Dem politicians, left wing groups have all gone to this technique. It makes it easier for the MSM to ignore or conveniently forget in 24 hours.
At least it hurts their circulation