BBC revises 'racist tweets' wording in Sarah Jeong story
The BBC first reported that the New York Times was standing by its new hire Sarah Jeong over her 'racist tweets'. The next day the headline was revised to put 'racist tweets' in quotation marks, and in the article body the word 'racist' was replaced with 'inflammatory'. The Washington Times reported the change.
Who it favored: Democrats
Softened wording in defense of a left-leaning journalist.
The pieces
- BBC News: Sarah Jeong: NY Times stands by 'racist tweets' reporter (Aug 2, 2018, current version)https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45052534
- Archive.org snapshot of the BBC story, evening of Aug 2, 2018http://web.archive.org/web/20180802234530/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45052534
- Washington Times: report on the BBC's edit of the 'racist' descriptor (Aug 3, 2018)https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/3/sarah-jeong-story-by-bbc-edited-racist-descriptor-/
The other side
The BBC added an update note dated 3 August 2018 saying it revised the article and headline after considering Jeong's explanation that her posts were satirical responses to harassment.
Why it's here
This is filed under Subversion, not graded as a lie. What subversion means.