New York Times, Washington Post slammed for tweets omitting that Ma'Khia Bryant was armed with knife

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Ohio officer shoots and kills teenage girl holding a knife

Fox News correspondent Garrett Tenney provides updates on Columbus police department officer-involved shooting.

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post came under fire Wednesday for tweets omitting key details about the previous day's fatal police-involved shooting in Columbus, Ohio.

The Times shared a montage of protesters decrying the death of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, who was shot by a police officer as she was attacking another girl with a knife. 

However, that key detail was widely omitted in early reports of the shooting and remained missing from a Times tweet that was shared Wednesday afternoon. 

"Ma'Khia Bryant, 16, was fatally shot by a Columbus, Ohio, police officer on Tuesday," the Times wrote. "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.'"

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Critics blasted the Gray Lady for the "misleading" tweet. 

"Everything in this tweet/video is true. It's what's missing that makes it so misleading," Dispatch editor and Fox News contributor Stephen F. Hayes reacted.

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"This was just published at 12:50 PM today. This is beyond malpractice. This is malice," freelance journalist Jeryl Bier wrote.

"Crump also claimed she was unarmed, which is clearly and completely false. NYT stoking the flames as usual," Daily Caller reporter Chuck Ross tweeted.

The Times later deleted its tweet and replaced it with another that acknowledged the knife. However, it still framed that that fact as a claim by police despite bodycamera footage that clearly shows the knife in Bryant's hand.

"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," the Times tweeted on Wednesday evening. 

The Washington Post similarly tweeted out an over-simplified headline of the incident on Wednesday morning: "Ohio police fatally shoot Black teenage girl just before Chauvin verdict."

The Post did mention Bryant's knife in the second paragraph of its report, but it too faced backlash.

"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 asked.

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"This was an irresponsible headline yesterday, but pushing it today is just insanely dishonest malpractice," conservative writer A.G. Hamilton tweeted. 

"the media has a fee-vah and the only prescription is gratuitous racial antagonism," Hot Air senior editor Allahpundit wrote, imitating Christopher Walken in the famous "More Cowbell" sketch from "Saturday Night Live".

Like the Times, HuffPost and AJ+ tweeted out videos alongside captions that failed to note Bryant's knife during the altercation. 

The Daily Beast was slammed for publishing misinformation about the shooting that cited Bryant's aunt as the primary source, despite acknowledging the aunt was not an eyewitness and was only told of what happened by two other relatives.

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NPR even admitted that its reporting could turn out to be wrong. 

"This is a developing story," NPR disclaimed at the bottom of its report. "Some facts reported by the media may later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene, and we will update as the situation develops."