New York Times falls for nutso Trump conspiracy theory, quietly scrubs from site
Easy marks.
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It should not be this easy for a conspiracy theory to make its way into the pages of the most powerful newspaper in the United States.
Yet it is.
The New York Times this week promoted a deranged, easily debunked rumor that President Trump’s Oct. 8 video address to senior citizens was shot inside a studio and digitally manipulated to make it appear as if it was recorded on the White House lawn.
The paper then stealth-edited the article to remove its initial attempt to legitimize this bizarre rumor. There is no editor’s note explaining the changes. And don’t hold your breath waiting for an apology or even a concession from the New York Times. In fact, the way things are going over there, the since-amended report will probably win a Pulitzer Prize.
The White House released Trump’s address to senior citizens at 1:13 pm on Oct. 8.
Political commentators, including MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, and other assorted anti-Trump “resistance” types, immediately pounced, claiming the footage obviously was shot in front of a green screen. The White House, their conspiracy theory-mongering suggested, is trying to make Trump, who was diagnosed last week with COVID-19, appear healthier and peppier than he really is.
But Trump clearly appeared in-person on the White House lawn, said multiple individuals with knowledge of audio and video editing.
At a little past 5:30 pm on Oct. 8, BuzzFeed News published a definitive conspiracy theory debunker titled, “No, That Trump Video Isn’t Green-Screened.”
“Trump is actually standing outside the White House in his latest video,” the article’s subhead reads.
Yet, somehow, despite the widespread debunking of the stupid green screen idiocy, the conspiracy theory appeared later that evening in a New York Times report titled, “Trump Lashes Out at His Aides With Calls to Indict Political Rivals.”
The article, authored by reporters Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, published at around 9:00 pm. It claimed originally:
In the video, Mr. Trump was shown on the South Lawn of the White House hundreds of feet away from the mansion, but it appeared to be a digital backdrop as leaves blowing in the wind behind him could be seen repeating on a loop. Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, insisted that ‘he was definitely outside.’ Mr. Trump has not appeared before news cameras since his return from Walter Reed on Monday evening.
This is complete nonsense, according to BuzzFeed News and those who understand audio and video editing, including Washington Examiner commentator and video editor Siraj Hashmi.
“It's not a video loop or green screen,” said Hashmi, “it's from lossy video compression. Basically, each individual frame got a bit distorted, and so the frames sorta bleed together.”
Almost as disturbing as the fact that the New York Times promoted some grade-A grassy knoll nonsense is that all references to the green screen conspiracy theory were removed from the report at around 11:18 pm, according to NewsDiffs.
There has been no explanation, no apology, and no public acknowledgment whatsoever from the New York Times for its humiliating dive into Alex Jones-style misinformation. Nothing.
Now is the part where we mention that New York Times journalists Gina Kolata, Roni Caryn Rabin, Katie Thomas, and Katherine J. Wu also contributed to the since-amended report.
Six people worked on this story, and not even one of them (or their editors) caught the already debunked green screen nonsense.
Truly, we live in a golden age of journalism.