Journalism At Its Finest: Two NYT Reporters Take On The Dog Photoshop Scandal

Leah Barkoukis | October 31, 2019 7:30 AM

Journalists lost their minds over President Trump retweeting a lighthearted meme of an obviously doctored photo showing him placing a Medal of Honor around the military working dog who helped take down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. To really hammer the point home, The New York Times wrote a story about it.

Running under the headline, “Trump Tweets Faked Photo of Hero Dog Getting a Medal,” the two authors of the piece made clear that the photo, created by The Daily Wire, was not real, but a doctored version of a 2017 AP photo from the ceremony awarding the Medal of Honor to retired Army medic James C. McCloughan.

The best part of the story, however, was that they reached out to McCloughan for comment (presumably hoping he’d be just as horrified as they were)—and he laughed.

Military working dogs have played an integral role in U.S. military operations for decades—a fact McCloughan was well aware of, having worked with one in Vietnam.

“This recognizes the dog is part of that team of brave people,” he told the Times.

The NYT was so shook by the photoshop of the dog getting the Medal of Honor that they reached out to the Vietnam veteran who was originally in the photo for comment.

His answer is epic and he even expressed concern about the dog's injuries. ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/pE7iDoWwGA
— Andrew Clark?? (@AndrewHClark) October 30, 2019

Twitter users were quick to mock the Times.

The absurdity of this concocted outrage goes even deeper when you realise the medal has paw prints on it ?? ??

The media have long lost their credibility. Now they are tossing away their sense of humour, swapping it for unintentional self-parody
— Alan Lewis (@AlanLew56185276) October 31, 2019