The New York Times falsely labeled a conservative reporter as a rioter in the mob at the Capitol on Wednesday.
On Sunday, the Times published an article with a photo of shirtless Daily Caller videographer Richie McGinniss talking to police through shattered Capitol windows. While McGinniss was simply reporting on the day’s chaotic events, just as he had done with the Black Lives Matter riots last summer, even rendering aid to a dying victim in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after shots rang out in late August, the Times misconstrued his role as being part of the mob, claiming he was a rioter who “punched the door after being pepper-sprayed and forced out of the building.”
“I know things were a hectic, but I find it rather shocking the ease with which the NYT invented a story about a credentialed reporter out of whole cloth and then published it,” wrote Daily Caller editor-in-chief Geoffrey Ingersoll. “Given how rapidly the FBI is arresting people, the NYT should take pains to get this stuff right.”
I know things were a hectic, but I find it rather shocking the ease with which the NYT invented a story about a credentialed reporter out of whole cloth and then published it.
Given how rapidly the FBI is arresting people, the NYT should take pains to get this stuff right. https://t.co/5VMJ6P0nvg
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 11, 2021
“Look at this caption. He was literally pointing at his phone that he dropped in the melee, it had all his work on it from the day,” Ingersoll continued.
Look at this caption. He was literally pointing at his phone that he dropped in the melee, it had all his work on it from the day. pic.twitter.com/vy108B6qzl
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 11, 2021
Others, including Megyn Kelly, also weighed in on the Times’s mistake and defended McGinniss for simply doing his job.
“Embarrassing screw up by the NYT against a great reporter @RichieMcGinniss who has put himself in danger many times & been all over the news this year talking about his work. (He got maced in the chaos which is why his shirt was off.) Check your facts, NYT,” she wrote on Twitter.
Embarrassing screw up by the NYT against a great reporter @RichieMcGinniss who has put himself in danger many times & been all over the news this year talking about his work. (He got maced in the chaos which is why his shirt was off.)
Check your facts, NYT. https://t.co/6jCwAlughT— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) January 11, 2021
The Times later changed the caption and issued a small correction at the bottom of the article the same day it was published.
“A picture caption with an earlier version of this essay misidentified the shirtless man shown outside a broken window at the Capitol. He was a videographer working for The Daily Caller, a right-wing website, not one of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol,” the correction read.
The newer caption, however, still refers to the Daily Caller as
“While we’re at it, the NYT correction makes no attempt to correct the implication. Instead, they say the ‘right wing’ reporter was somehow adjacent to the violence and property destruction. This is sickening behavior from the paper of record. Be up front when you f-ck up,” Ingersoll wrote. “It’s really dumbfounding. Invent a negative story about a person, publish it, then ‘correct’ it by leaving in the implication.”
What a fucking weasely way to correct a falsehood.
How about owning up to the mistake?
It’s really dumbfounding. Invent a negative story about a person, publish it, then “correct” it by leaving in the implication.
— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 11, 2021
