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

[Dynamohum]

What do you expect from Sun Myung Moon? a MOONIE?

[Bitsko]

Obviously all black kids look alike to Moonies.

[PippiLongstocking]

I see.

[Dredd]

Yellow dork journalism.

[twoopeneyes]

We'll it was an editorial decision, an attempt to raise readership and to get the attention of their subscribers, whom they know are not supportive of Barack Obama. It speaks to who they are in their souls I think. It's also an affront to Barack and Michelle as parents and too me it's borderline race-baiting, fear and hate mongering.

It's pretty twisted.

But hey, they know their subscribers.

[toomuchtolose]

It's a threat. It's the "offer you can't refuse," i.e., it's not against the person; it's against someone
he loves. The newspapers are hoping for bail-outs. I hope the secret service goes after the editor
for this. It's a message to the nutcases out there who hate the present administration, and it's a
reminder to the administration that the nutcases ARE out there. A message right on the front page!

It is reminiscent of the odd (veiled threat?) that occurred when "W" was in office. A reporter at one of the White House press briefings asked a question that the White House press secretary didn't like.
The press secretary then asked the reporter how his children liked their school, and gave the name
of the school. It was a chilling moment. And no follow up question.

[pueblocolorado]

Typical Washington Times doing what the Washington Times does. Any bankruptcy in the offing for the WT?

[Rharte]

"The theme engine, through automation, grabbed a photo it thought was relevant, and attached it to the story,"

...So then I guess the automation used tag words like "Chicago", "Crime", "Murder" and out pops the Obama girls. I'm a bit confused. And by the way, don't these things go through some kind of human proof reading or review?

[bygollymissmolly]

On any respectable newspaper they do. That was simply a l i e they made up to try to excuse the inexcusable.

[Forest]

The Washington Times, owned by Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, partners with Fox News and The Christian Broadcasting Network (The "Christian" 700 Club).

[Trittydi]

He should sue them for this.
*

[Bitsko]

He should take a page out of Harry Truman's book and threaten to punch the editor.

[lisakaz2]

Nah, I say sic grandma on him and have her armed with either an umbrella or a cane. She can do a lot of damage I suspect.

[meemu]

Ahhh, now I understand­.......our 'news' is automated!!! No wonder it's rarely worth reading, or watching---just random junk grabbed and put out as 'news'.

[caferide]

Editor John Solomon should be immediately terminated. Period.

He is obviously incapable of doing his job. I was fired from an advertising job for supposedly making a much, much less serious mistake.

[stanschurman]

Except that he was doing his job. The photo was obviously not an error, but some incomprehensible attempt to associate Malia and Sasha with the unfortunate victims in Chicago.

[kapalabhati]

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

The buck stops someplace else. Typical. Mistakes were made.

[dgh94104]

I'm only surprised that it hasn't happened sooner.

[damilitantone]

Funny how some folks try and justify the photo being included in the story. It falls on deaf ears when black folk try to explain racial issues from their perspective because some white folks just don't want to have to deal with reality. If you wonder why black folk remain leary and still maintain their own cliques its issues such as this one that remind us that not everybody sees us as human beings deserving of some modicum of respect and decency. On a positive note Obama couldn't have been elected without the votes of many white folks. This is not to suggest that everyone who didn't vote for Obama has racial issues, however, there is a significant group that does, but are to cowardly to admit their views publicly. It's not much more that black folk can do to enlighten these folks, but the majority of white folks who do understand the situation are probably in a better position to call these clowns out. I'm pretty much through trying to explain the obvious.

[DubyaGump]

The Washington Times going tabloid, my your newpaper fail!

[Chlowina]

"The theme engine, through automation, grabbed a photo it thought was relevant, and attached it to the story," OH Bullsh((. Don't they proof this stuff.