NY Post's 'Bag Men' Boston Marathon Cover
■ The claim
The Post's front page showed two young men at the marathon under the headline 'Bag Men', implying federal investigators were looking for them.
■ What actually happened
The April 18, 2013 cover ran a photo of Salaheddin Barhoum and Yassine Zaimi with a subhead saying the feds were seeking them. Neither man had any link to the bombing, and the real suspects, the Tsarnaev brothers, were identified hours later. The Post defended the cover at first, and the two men sued for defamation. The case settled on undisclosed terms in late September 2014.
■ The proof
The FBI identified the Tsarnaev brothers as the suspects, and the men's lawyers produced a DHS email saying the two were not of interest. The Post settled the defamation suit.
■ Original reporting
- Salon: New York Post fingers two Boston 'bag men' (April 18, 2013)https://www.salon.com/control/2013/04/18/new_york_post_fingers_two_boston_bag_men
- UPI: NY Post defends identifying two men later clearedhttps://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/04/18/NY-Post-defends-identifying-2-later-cleared-as-Boston-bag-men/UPI-97091366319510/
■ Corrections, findings & records
- WBUR: Settlement in Marathon 'Bag Men' defamation suithttps://www.wbur.org/news/2014/10/01/settlement-marathon-defamation-lawsuit
- Media Matters: NY Post settles 'Bag Men' lawsuithttps://www.mediamatters.org/new-york-post/ny-post-settles-lawsuit-over-infamous-boston-bombing-bag-men-cover
- ABA Journal: NY Post settles defamation suit over 'Bag Men'https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ny_post_settles_defamation_suit_over_bag_men_headline_in_its_boston_maratho
■ Wayback Machine copies
Stories sometimes get edited after publication. These links open the Internet Archive's earliest snapshot of each original.
- Archive copy: Salon: New York Post fingers two Boston 'bag men' (April 18, 2013)https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.salon.com/control/2013/04/18/new_york_post_fingers_two_boston_bag_men
- Archive copy: UPI: NY Post defends identifying two men later clearedhttps://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/04/18/NY-Post-defends-identifying-2-later-cleared-as-Boston-bag-men/UPI-97091366319510/
■ Grade
RETRACTED: The outlet itself retracted, corrected, or settled. How we grade →