The New York Times has issued a correction to a Thursday editorial that linked the 2011 shooting of then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) to a map circulated by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) that put 20 Democratic districts in cross hairs.
The original editorial in the Times, centered on the shootings Wednesday of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and three others at a baseball practice, noted the Palin map in arguing that the link was clear between political incitement and the deadly Giffords shooting, which killed six people and left the congresswoman gravely wounded.
The Times corrected the editorial on Thursday morning.
“An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that a link existed between political incitement and the 2011 shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords. In fact, no such link was established,” it reads.
The Times came under heavy criticism over the wording of its initial editorial.
Conservatives, including Palin, blasted the Times given the fact that there was no evidence that the shooter, Jared Loughner, was even aware of the Palin map. Liberal voices also joined the criticism.
“With this sickening NYT’s editorial, the media is doing exactly what I said yesterday should not be done,” Palin wrote on Facebook.
“As I said yesterday, I’d hoped the media had collectively matured since the last attack on a representative when media coverage spewed blatant lies about who was to blame. There’s been no improvement. The NYT has gotten worse,” Palin said.
Twitter also had no shortage of criticism on the editorial.
The Times eliminated its public editor position last month and said it will depend on an expanded commenting platform in the public editor’s place.
“We are dramatically expanding our commenting platform,” Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger wrote. “Currently, we open only 10 percent of our articles to reader comments. Soon, we will open up most of our articles to reader comments.”
Sulzberger also says the Times is open to hearing “thoughtful criticism” from other news outlets.