BBC revises 'racist tweets' wording in Sarah Jeong story

02 AUG 2018 · BBC News, Washington Times

■ 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-/

■ What they show

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.

■ 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.

Who it helped: DemocratsSoftened wording in defense of a left-leaning journalist.

■ Why it's here

This exhibit is filed under Subversion, not graded as a lie. What subversion means →