NYT Changes Headline That Originally Said ‘Not Everyone Wants to Hear About’ Biden’s Grief Over Son Beau
Don Emmert/AFP, Getty
The New York Times on Saturday changed a headline on an article about President Joe Biden as Twitter users reacted to the phrasing in a variety of mostly negative ways.
The original headline “Biden, Still Grieving His Son, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It” was on a Katie Rogers article about the president expressing his grief and facing some criticism over discussing his lost son while visiting with the families grieving the deaths of United States servicemembers in the terror attack in Kabul.
The new version of the headline on the article reads: “In Invoking Beau, Biden Broaches a Loss That’s Guided His Presidency.”
The original faced some negative reactions for its phrasing. After it was changed, some pointed out the change, including Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher.
Wow, I thought it was fake. Nope. @nytimes: "Biden, Still Grieving His Son Beau, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It"
Hed on the article is changed. pic.twitter.com/qKEc0mWmWx— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) September 4, 2021
Some suggested that the controversial version of the headline was not actually ever the headline, but that is not true.
That is NOT—repeat, NOT—the Times' headline. It appears to have been put atop the story by another, different site hostile to Biden.
— Terry Teachout (@TerryTeachout1) September 4, 2021
That is a reference to one of a variety of newspaper sites that republish NYT content, such as the Boston Globe, many of which still have and have tweeted the original headline.
However, the cache, as illustrated by Christopher, in fact shows it was the actual headline at the newspaper when it first published.
Wow, what a-holes.
The original: @nytimes: "Biden, Still Grieving His Son Beau, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It"
Now: "In Invoking Beau, Biden Broaches a Loss That’s Guided His Presidency" pic.twitter.com/6IHuzr52q6
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) September 4, 2021
It was changed at their own website, but continues in its original form at syndicated sites, causing some apparent confusion.
It is not clear why the headline was changed, but neither version does a great job of representing the tone or content of the article.
