The New York Times has come under fire for an article it published under the headline “Nikki Haley’s View of New York Is Priceless. Her Curtains? $52,701.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has been outspoken in her support of President Donald Trump’s policies, particularly when it comes to Israel.
She regularly pushes for strong pro-Israel policies at the United Nations.
Some would argue the article was written and published in an attempt to make Haley look like a spoiled elitist — and to try to smear anyone associated with Trump in any way.
The article was so misleading, however, that The New York Times, the so-called paper of record, had to issue a correction.
The article — an attack on Haley and on President Trump — described how the $52,701 had been spent on buying customized and mechanized curtains for Haley’s official residence.
The article also referred to the decorations as “Haley’s curtains.”
Now let’s get to the facts.
It was actually the Obama administration that approved that expenditure and chose to spend that money — not the Trump administration or anyone else.
The Obama administration approved the purchase of those curtains back in 2016, as Fox News and other outlets have noted.
As that outlet also noted, “The New York Times initially reported this week that $52,701 was spent last year on buying customized and mechanized curtains for the picture windows in Haley’s New York City residence, for which rent is $58,000 a month. The paper didn’t mention until the sixth paragraph that Haley’s spokesman said the Trump administration had no input in the purchase decision.”
After others called out the publication for its inaccuracies, The Times changed the headline of its article to “State Department Spent $52,701 on Curtains for Residence of U.N. Envoy.”
Even the son of President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., called out the publication for its article in a tweet on Friday.
He wrote, “Shocking! Weird how it won’t get coverage now. The $52,000 curtains for Nikki Haley’s office were bought by Obama’s State Department, not Trump’s.”
See the tweet below:
Shocking! Weird how it won’t get coverage now. The $52,000 curtains for Nikki Haley's office were bought by Obama's State Department, not Trump's https://t.co/GbrlKKp7Yc
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 14, 2018
The publication wrote the following editors’ note at the top of the article.
“An earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question. While Nikki R. Haley is the current ambassador to the United Nations, the decision on leasing the ambassador’s residence and purchasing the curtains was made during the Obama administration, according to current and former officials. The article should not have focused on Ms. Haley, nor should a picture of her have been used.”
It went on to add, “The article and headline have now been edited to reflect those concerns, and the picture has been removed.”
Here are reactions from others to what happened — and to how The Times handled the issue.
Why Massive Mainstream Media Distrust?
Example #1,490Headlines: State Department Spent $52,200 on Nikki Haley apartment curtains
Media Reaction: Outrage
Fact: Curtains order under Obama administration
Media Reaction: Crickets (looking for next outrage)— Charles V Payne (@cvpayne) September 14, 2018
New: The New York Times has updated its story on @nikkihaley: "An earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question." pic.twitter.com/GQg7Bj0qfv
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 14, 2018
Except it was Obama’s State Dept. Will you print a correction or just leave it as is because you want it to be true??? https://t.co/5Rzbq0nDtd
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 14, 2018
I don't know how you headline it and frame it as a Nikki Haley gotcha piece when the curtains were purchased under Obama.
— Ben White (@morningmoneyben) September 14, 2018
The NYT story on the $55,000 curtains is indeed unfair to Nikki Haley, but it's yet another contribution to the canon of government contracts being like "A fridge? to full State Department specs? That's going to run you 35, 40 grand"
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) September 14, 2018
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