Washington Times Runs Obama Girls' Photo With Story About Murdered Chicago Kids

On Wednesday, a story featured on the Washington Times website about murdered Chicago schoolchildren was inexplicably paired with a photo of President Obama's daughters. The two girls are not mentioned in the story, and aside from having at one point been schoolchildren in Chicago have no connection to it.

As Media Matters' Eric Boehlert points out:

The Obama children, of course, are not actually mentioned in the news story. But somebody at the WashTimes thought it made perfect sense to insert the image of the underage White House occupants into a story about murdered kids in Chicago.

And no, this was not an example of an unfortunate juxtaposition, where the the Obama girls photo was actually part of another, more innocuous story and because of a layout quirk simply appeared near the murdered-kids story. Instead, the Obama girls photo was specifically selected to accompany the article.

The photo was later taken down.

Editor John Solomon told Greg Sargent technology, not a person, was to blame.

"The theme engine, through automation, grabbed a photo it thought was relevant, and attached it to the story," Solomon said, acknowledging that the photo had gone up without a person seeing it. "There was no editorial decision to run it. As soon as it was brought to our attention, we pulled it down."

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Comments

[joeplum88]

Whoever did this should really be ashamed.

[Ponderus]

It was intentional.

[breezi]

"The theme engine, through automation, grabbed a photo it thought was relevant, and attached it to the story," Solomon said, acknowledging that the photo had gone up without a person seeing it. "There was no editorial decision to run it. As soon as it was brought to our attention, we pulled it down."
This is total BS. This was deliberate. And our prayers go out to the families of the children.

[CivilGargoyle1]

Is this two stories in one? 36 children killed, murdered, is quite a news story in of itself which doesn't need identifiable pictures of underage children, particularly the children of the President. So, what is the intended focus here? This picture detracts from rather than contributes to the story. Perhaps a small and dignified composite to symbolize 36 children would certainly give meaning and depth to the story.

[Xylem44]

Reprehensible.

[stanschurman]

Michelle should just walk into the WT editorial office, ask for the editor and then deck him. Sophmoric I know, but it would make her (and us) feel so good.

[totaldisbelief]

yup yup yup

[baddadd49]

I wish she would and then film the arrest.

[VoiceOmmAfar]

With bare arms.

[yhgtup]

The Wash Times is caling this an accident? No way!! You mean to tell me a human doesn't check this stuff before it goes to public view? Don't believe it!!! I'm definitely sending them an email!! Outrageous!!

[craniguy]

Guess the Times doesn't have editor to review the crap they print.

[mcle3002]

The Washington Times has even reached a new low. Though I have to say as disgusting this is I am not really surprised.

This is an insult to BOTH the 36 children who have been killed and the Obama family. It's disgusting to use children in such a way.

[listentome]

That is exactly why news print is going out of business. When you read and look at some of the ridiculous articles and schemes that editors and publishers resort to to get attention it is no wonder that folks are using to, in Palin's words, say, "Thenks, but no thenks."

They ought to be fined.

[Cunningham]

Really? NO editor looks at the content before a page goes to print?

I'm not buying it. The Washington Times is known for it's extreme rightwing bias.

[Plus15]

If it wasn't the right-wing alien owned Washington Times that was blaming technology for this disgraceful piece of political thuggery you might give it a moments consideration. But this crap is part and parcel of the current right-wing anti Democrats and American campaign.

[bygollymissmolly]

So, here's the proof that their excuse was a L I E!

They have taken the photo down but the original photo was accompanied by this:

"ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS The Obama daughters (above) - Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10 - attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. This school year 36 of the city's school children have been killed."

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200905130025

[Citizen13]

Corin Pinkney/Ohioan730 you both make a great point, but just be glad some people are showing sympathy for the Obamas. The attention is actually one very small step in the right direction. I understand your disillusion, but maybe now a few more people can see just how ignorant some people can be. Or simply put, how evil and prejudice their heart can be.

This is the President of the United State's children yet there are still some people out there who will say "don't they all look alike" and believe it is an honest mistake, or many will buy the sorry excuse being made. Maybe now some if not all white people will see how deep the hatred of black people is. Rest assured that one at a time because of the Obamas these acts of racism will be exposed to the whole world.

[Badgirl]

There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand the binary system and those who don't. Any Computer can search & retrieve. Wash Post needs an editor to review and either accept or reject the choices.