The New York Times mistook Darren Wilson for Michael Brown, and said Trayvon Martin was killed by a police officer, not a civilian — confusing two of the highest profile confrontations that inflamed racial tension, all in the same article about weekend protests that ignored throngs chanting: "What do we want? Dead cops!"
Also, one correction the Times posted misspelled Martin’s first name.
For the record, Darren Wilson, 28, was the white Ferguson, Missouri, police officer who killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black teenager, on Aug. 9 in a shooting that set off months of protests, rioting and accusations of police racism. A grand jury refused to indict Wilson, finding that the 6-foot-3, 350-pound teenager attacked Wilson and struggled for his gun.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black teenager, was killed Feb. 26, 2012, by George Zimmerman, a civilian security guard, in Sanford, Florida.
The conservative website,
Twitchy, posted the Times correction under the headline: "Is this the most embarrassing NYT correction ever?"
The conservative news watchdog, Newsbusters, noted that the Times referred to the weekend protesters as peaceful and ignored demonstrators in New York calling for the murder of police officers.
"Perhaps the most egregious related omission is seen in the video below, where demonstrators are clearly chanting, ‘What do we want? Dead Cops! When do we want it? Now!’ over and over and over," Newsbusters said.
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