Some woman in Texas thought she would be clever on Sunday and showed up at a protest against the George Zimmerman verdict with the following sign:
Note the caption and how the NY Daily News ran with it as a straight news item. The UK's Daily Mail online played it as a straight news photo of a George Zimmerman supporter also.
It turns out that she was actually with the Trayvon Martin side at the protest and she was just being "sarcastic."
It may have been sarcasm as far as she's concerned, but two major news organizations put it on the record as testimony to the racism of Zimmerman supporters.
I'd like to know how that happened, because according to the story at the video link, at one point she was clearly on the side of the street with the Trayvon Martin supporters. Is that where James Nielson of AP took the picture? Did he know that wasn't really a Zimmerman supporter and did he provide that context when he submitted the photo to his editor?
Who was the editor and was that image altered in any substantial way? Was important context cut before it was sent out over the AP wire to other news organizations?
I wonder how many thousands or even millions of people have seen or will see that picture as a Zimmerman supporter standing unmolested amongst other Zimmerman supporters and therefore see that as a true representation of the racism of all Zimmerman supporters. How many people have been or will be misled into anger and hatred and have their hearts hardened by that photo?
I wonder if Renee Vaughan, the name of the woman with the sign apparently, is proud of that.
I wonder if James Nielsen is proud of that.
I wonder if AP President Gary Pruitt and his staff of managers and editors are proud of that.
I wonder if Philip Caulfield and the publishers and editors at the NY Daily News and the Mail Online are proud of that.
I wonder if any of them actually give a shit.
Update: As of 12:45 CDT the New York Daily News has memory-holed the photo without a correction notice, but left the following copy in the story:
One woman in the Zimmerman group held a sign that said, "We're racist & proud."
Austin resident Renee Vaughan echoed the sign’s ugly sentiments by yelling, "We're racist. We're proud. We're better because we're white," at the Martin group as they passed, according to the Chronicle.
At this point it is hard to escape the conclusion that Philip Caulfield and all his editors are a bunch of giant assholes who are out to deliberately deceive their readers.
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