The New York Times keeps shooting itself in the foot. OK, sometimes it shoots itself in the
\nhead. Anyway, today’s foot shot is a photo of Republican Sen. Trent Lott misidentified in the
\ncaption as “the majority leader.” Caption errors are so common in so many newspapers that it
\nseems churlish to single this one out. But an error such as this speaks volumes about the Times’s
\nreliability. <\/P>
\n
How could the editors of the so-called newspaper of record forget that Lott was ousted as
\nthe Senate’s majority leader in December 2002? It was in all the papers. You remember the
\nscandal that led to his ouster. It followed Lott’s comment at the 100th birthday party for Sen.
\nStrom Thurmond that he was proud of Thurmond’s segregationist record. That was in all the
\npapers, too. Even in the Times.<\/P>
\n
The mis-captioned photo accompanies a story by Carl Hulse and David E. Sanger, Of course, there’s no mention of the scandal or the ouster on Lott’s Web site<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A>,
\nof Edwards an Issue.”<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> Somebody was alert enough not to include
\nLott’s photo in the online posting of the story. Hooray for the online Times.<\/P>
\n
\nwhich says merely that he now chairs the Senate’s “powerful Rules Committee” and the Aviation
\nSubcommittee, and is a member of the Finance Committee and the Select Committee on
\nIntelligence. But that’s to be expected. <\/P>
\n