New York Times Story on Anthony Weiner Sentencing Omits His Party Affiliation

BY: Alex Griswold Follow
@HashtagGriswold

September 26, 2017 10:12 am

A 35-paragraph New York Times story on Anthony Weiner’s prison sentencing published Monday failed to mention that the former congressman was a Democrat.

The Times described Weiner—sentenced to 21 months in prison for sexting with an underage girl—simply as “a former congressman and mayoral candidate” who “undermined Hillary Clinton’s shot at the presidency in the closing days of the tumultuous 2016 campaign.”

The writer of the Times piece said on Twitter that the omission was unintentional, and Weiner’s affiliation was present in earlier copies.

Hi Alex, thanks for noting it. it was inadvertently dropped from earlier versions and has been restored.

— Benjamin Weiser (@BenWeiserNYT) September 26, 2017

An earlier eight-paragraph version of the story did refer to Weiner as “a Democrat who had represented parts of Queens and Brooklyn” in the penultimate paragraph. The Times story has since been edited to mention Weiner’s party affiliation in the third paragraph.

The omission lasted 12 hours, and comes weeks after the Times faced criticism for initially omitting Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez’s (N.J.) party affiliation in a 1,300-word story on his corruption trial. In that instance, his affiliation was also added after readers noticed it, and the Times also blamed an “oversight after drafts.”