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NYT, Washington Post slammed for tweets omitting that Ma'Khia Bryant was armed with knife when cop shot her

'This is beyond malpractice. This is malice,' said freelance journalist Jeryl Bier

The New York Times and Washington Post have been slammed for removing key details while tweeting about the incident that led to Ma'Khia Bryant being shot dead by officer Nicholas Reardon. It has been said that they did not mention in their tweets that the 16-year-old had a knife in her hand and was threatening another girl when she was shot dead by Reardon.

A tweet by NYT read, “Ma'Khia Bryant, 16, was fatally shot by a Columbus, Ohio, police officer on Tuesday. Her death quickly received widespread attention, including from Ben Crump, the lawyer for the family of George Floyd. 'Another child lost!' he said. 'Another hashtag.’” This attracted a huge backlash as Fox News contributor Stephen F Hayes tweeted, “Everything in this tweet/video is true. It's what's missing that makes it so misleading.” “This was just published at 12:50 PM today. This is beyond malpractice. This is malice,” freelance journalist Jeryl Bier said.

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After being trolling, The Times deleted this tweet and instead posted, “Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, who the police said threatened two girls with a knife, was fatally shot by an officer in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday. The teenager's death touched off protests in Ohio's capital city Tuesday night.” It also said, “We have deleted an earlier tweet that lacked context about the shooting.”

The Washington Post was also criticized for tweeting a link to the Bryant’s shooting story that had an over-simplified headline. “Ohio police fatally shoot Black teenage girl just before Chauvin verdict,” it shared.

“The Washington Post's social media team had another 208 characters it could’ve used to add some, uh, rather pertinent context to its tweet. Couldn’t be bothered?” Washington Examiner commentator T Becket Adams remarked. “The headline that shows up in the link definitely tries to add some pertinent context for the narrative they're trying to fit,” a person commented below Adams’ tweet.

Conservative writer AG Hamilton said, “This was an irresponsible headline yesterday, but pushing it today is just insanely dishonest malpractice.” “the media has a fee-vah and the only prescription is gratuitous racial antagonism," Hot Air senior editor Allahpundit added. "I am 500 % against police violence and brutality but the press should also give the full details about this case and not just look for a click bait story," a user wrote.

However, there were many people on social media who were not really concerned about the fact that the teenager was armed with a knife. They were angry about her being killed. One such user tweeted, “Kyle Rittenhouse walks around freely with a firearm after killing two people and still survives his journey, yet a Black woman with a knife is shot within seconds upon officers arriving at the scene...but then, many white folks don't see color.” Another one said, “I really don't understand why police shoot to kill and not to bring down and disable.... a 13 year old girl needs four bullets?? More than ridiculous!” “she was lunging at another girl with a knife. It’s sad she was shot—maybe they should have just tased her— but there has to be a difference between instances like this and the killing of George Floyd,” a tweet read.