Wash. Times misrepresented photograph of Clinton from New Haven event

Summary: The Washington Times misrepresented an Associated Press photograph, claiming that it showed Hillary Clinton "tear[ing] up during a stop in New Haven, Conn." In fact, according to the caption provided by the AP, it depicted Clinton "wiping her eye and sipping water to get her cough under control"; it does not depict the moment at the New Haven event the accompanying Times article highlighted.

The February 5 edition of The Washington Times misrepresented an Associated Press photograph, taken by Elise Amendola, of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) at a February 4 event in New Haven, Connecticut, that shows Clinton, according to the caption provided by the AP, "wiping her eye and sipping water to get her cough under control." The caption noted, "Clinton showed signs of strain during the roundtable at one point coughing uncontrollably." But The Washington Times, which featured the AP photograph of Clinton wiping her eye on the front page, above the fold, captioned the photograph in the following way: "TALKING TO AMERICA: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who teared up during a stop in New Haven, Conn., planned a nationally televised town-hall meeting last night from New York."

As is clear from a video of the New Haven event, the AP photograph The Washington Times used does not, in fact, depict the moment at the New Haven event the accompanying article by Joseph Curl and Brian DeBose highlighted. From the article:

The strain on the candidates showed clearly yesterday. Mrs. Clinton's voice was raspy; at one stop, struggled to control her coughing; at another, she teared up.

Her first stop yesterday was in New Haven, where she graduated from Yale Law School more than three decades ago. During her introduction, she grew emotional, wiping her eyes with her hand.

"I said I would not tear up. Already, we're not on that path," she said to laughter.

As the original AP caption indicated, that photo was of Clinton "wiping her eye" after a coughing fit, not, as the article suggested, in response to the warm introduction of her.

A note at the end of the Times article stated that it was "based in part on wire service dispatches." A February 4 AP article reported in language similar to that used by Curl and DeBose: "Clinton responded emotionally to [Penn] Rhodeen's [a New Haven public interest lawyer who worked with Clinton as a student] praise, at one point wiping her eyes with her hand. But unlike her teary-eyed moment in Portsmouth, N.H., her voice never broke and she tried make light of her emotion. 'I said I would not tear up. Already we're not on that path,' Clinton replied to laughs." However, video of the event does not bear out the Times' and the AP's description -- though Clinton does appear to tear up during the introduction of her, she does not "wip[e] her eyes with her hand" at that time.

—S.P.