The New York Times’ front page Sunday morning led with a photo of President Barack Obama and scores more marching in Selma on the fiftieth anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the landmark civil rights event. One photoshopper even blended the photo of yesterday’s march with an original from 1965:
Powerful RT @TheBlackIcarus: "@deray: Selma. Now and Then. #Selma50 pic.twitter.com/VEf47Pn3Yw" incredible image merge.
— Appleleemealonia (@gooniejenkins) March 8, 2015
But it didn’t take long for conservative Twitter to notice something:
You cropped out the Bush family? RT @nytimes: On Sunday's front page of The New York Times http://t.co/wJgNgLvBeH pic.twitter.com/NmNY9rYKyP
— BiasedGirl (@BiasedGirl) March 8, 2015
Suprise, suprise: @nytimes Crops Out George W. Bush From Their #Selma50 Front Page Picture
via @trscoop
http://t.co/WDE3FW08SX
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) March 8, 2015
The Times’ photo was contrasted with another one taken at roughly the same moment, in which Bush is visible on the right hand side:
From @jeffmason1: The Obama family and Bush family join marchers to cross Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. pic.twitter.com/NuMMx4F3XS
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) March 7, 2015
Alas, there’s no proof the Times’ photo was altered in any way. (Contrast this, for instance, with the disappearing act an Israeli newspaper pulled on Angela Merkel from a Paris march.) The two photos above are different, and one was clearly taken from a much higher vantage to capture more of the crowd. Times photographer Doug Mills tweeted out his photo 24 hours ago, as it appeared later on the front page. The photo, one of several he took and tweeted, clearly centered on Obama:
President Obama walks across The Edmund Pettus Bridge, in Selma, Alabama on the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday pic.twitter.com/rtIlVRgW0W
— Doug Mills (@dougmillsnyt) March 7, 2015
The full-sized picture on the Times’ webpage doesn’t have Bush either.
[Image via Doug Mills/New York Times]
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