Five-time Super Bowl champs the New England Patriots visited the White House yesterday. Some players choose to politicize the moment by announcing that they won’t attend to show opposition to President Donald Trump.
The New York Times tweeted comparison photos from 2017 to the Patriots’ last visit in 2015 when Barack Obama was in office.
Patriots' turnout for President Obama in 2015 vs. Patriots' turnout for President Trump today: https://t.co/OxMEOqZonI pic.twitter.com/pLmJWhOw1j
— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) April 19, 2017
One problem. The arrangements were significantly different but left out of the N.Y. Times demeaning visual comparison.
These photos lack context. Facts: In 2015, over 40 football staff were on the stairs. In 2017, they were seated on the South Lawn. https://t.co/iIYtV0hR6Y
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017
A few years ago, 34 New England Patriots players attended the ceremony compared with 32 yesterday. Most noteworthy, quarterback Tom Brady (a friend of President Trump) announced that he could not attend yesterday due to urgent family issues. Brady’s mother has been very ill. The NY Times did a thorough job explaining all of this in its news story. The NY Times tweet (top of this page) was misleading.
Comparable photos: The last time the #Patriots won two Super Bowls in three years, 36 players visited the White House. Today, we had 34. pic.twitter.com/Aslvf1RaXU
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017
The winningest Super Bowl franchise are owned by Robert Kraft, who is one of Trump’s best friends. Kraft spoke at the White House, drawing the parallel of his team’s fourth quarter comeback to that of Trump’s final surge to win the 2016 election.
Hey New York Times, partisan much? Even the team’s hometown paper, the liberal Boston Globe, had to let some truth shine in while hedging its bet in reporting thru its Democrat prism.
UPDATE: Patriots say # of players was smaller this year than 2015 (34 vs. 50) but total delegation was roughly the same. pic.twitter.com/Ij77Def8z5
— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) April 20, 2017
The Patriots ultimately posted this photo to illustrate that a full staircase image was available to the media but the NY Times decided to make a false equivalency. And this is what is killing our media business. Partisanship must permeate even a Super Bowl celebration for a divided electorate. Sad!
Thanks @realDonaldTrump & @WhiteHouse for the gracious hospitality today honoring the Super Bowl Champion New England #Patriots! pic.twitter.com/7AU8XsA5Xk
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 20, 2017
Well. There was a full staircase after all, eh NY Times? But don’t let that get in the way of your narrative. (Is Jayson Blair running the Twitter team?)