Fox News Today:
The New York Times issued a correction on Monday night after being slammed for suggesting that liberal host-turned-congressional hopeful Cenk Uygur had previously defended former Klu Klux Klan leader David Duke.
The Times ran a report on Friday about how Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., had retracted his endorsement for Uygur after he faced backlash for supporting the congressional candidate. Uygur has had a history of controversial remarks, many of which were included in the report.
The report also mentioned an interview Uygur had done on his progressive digital outlet The Young Turks with Duke and pointed to a clip that had gone viral on Twitter, reporting that “Mr. Duke ends an interview by saying, ‘I am not, what you call a racist,’ to which Mr. Uygur replies, ‘No, of course not,'” which appeared to have been said sarcastically.
The report included Uygur’s response to the clip, calling it a “complete smear” that was taken out of context from a “combative one-hour interview.”
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Fellow progressive host and Young Turks colleague Kyle Kulinski came in defense of Uygur, sharing a clip showing his fiery debate with Duke arguing directly to the former grand wizard that he was “anti-Semitic.” Kulinski called for an immediate retraction and apology from the paper.
Uygur singled out Times reporter Jennifer Medina, on Sunday night over her report.
“When @jennymedina contacted me for her story I thought we had a shared understanding the Duke clip was obviously out of context,” Uygur wrote. “She was immediately sent the full, combative debate as proof. That she completely ignored it & still published this lie is absolutely unconscionable.”
The next evening, the Times walked back its reporting regarding Uygur’s interview with Duke.
“Correction: An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to a remark by Cenk Uygur, a radio host running for Congress. When David Duke appeared on his show and denied being a racist, Mr. Uygur was sarcastic when he replied, ‘No, of course not,'” the Times wrote.
Uygur expressed his appreciation for the correction and thanked his social media defenders.
“Although as some have pointed out this correction appears a bit begrudging, I still do appreciate it. I still believe @nytimes has an establishment perspective but I hope they care about the truth & this went some way toward proving it. Thank you to everyone who made this happen!” Uygur tweeted.
Uygur has been running for California’s 25th district seat left vacant by Rep. Katie Hill, a Democrat who resigned after she faced multiple sex scandals, one of which prompted a House Ethics investigation.
Also vying for Hill’s congressional seat: former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. The special election is scheduled for this coming March.
