Busted! NYT sneakily changes lede on 'Christie knew' article without issuing correction [pic]

Sarah D. | 5:14 PM on January 31, 2014

That’s what’s known as an “evergreen tweet.” You could send out that tweet anytime and it’d still be relevant.

So, what’s The New York Times done now? Oh, you know. Just taken some journalistic liberties. Nothing major:

https://twitter.com/michaelscherer/status/429369229822144512

Scherer is referring to the Times’ article claiming that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie “knew about lane closings.” In other words, according to the Times, Christie was aware of what was going on during the traffic mess that later became known as “Bridgegate.” Kate Zernike, who wrote the article, originally wrote that David Wildstein, former Port Authority official, had evidence proving Christie’s guilt.

Now, the article says something else:

@missADelgado @michaelscherer It's been changed to "evidence exists"

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 31, 2014

And @nytimes thought no one would notice…
“@HuffPostMedia: Old NYT lede on the top new NYT lede on the bottom pic.twitter.com/JqDzhDdMbn”

— Chi-Coms Responsible for Virus Jack (@jackbrazen) January 31, 2014

Well, well! What a difference a few words makes.

https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/429366481831624704

Indeed. Now, why on earth would The New York Times ever do something like that?

The @nytimes just lied to click-bait everybody in the Northeast. Lesson learned.

— Mike (@ThePantau) January 31, 2014

Ah.

Look at that. One hour of freak outs, accusations, and a drudge headline later, and NYT withdraws the whole claim.

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) January 31, 2014

That’s one heck of a news organization you’ve got there, New York Times.