NY Times' Zeleny blogged that VFW greeted Clinton with “standing ovation,” but that fact was missing from print article

Written by Julie Millican

Published

In a New York Times article, Jeff Zeleny characterized the “reception” for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the VFW national convention as “respectful yet tepid,” but he did not mention the “standing ovation” that Clinton received, which he had previously reported in a blog post.

In an August 21 New York Times article, reporter Jeff Zeleny characterized the “reception” for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) national convention as “respectful yet tepid,” making no mention of the “standing ovation” that Clinton received, which he reported the day before on the New York Times blog The Caucus.

Additionally, Zeleny opened his blog post by writing: “No, she did not get booed,” suggesting that booing was the expected response to Clinton's appearance before the VFW, an organization of American citizens who served overseas in the U.S. armed forces during a foreign conflict.

In his August 20 “Caucus” posting, Zeleny wrote of Clinton's reception:

The audience of hundreds of veterans and spouses listened respectfully, greeting her with a standing ovation. During the Iraq portion of the speech, there was silence in the downtown convention hall, but at several other points, moderate applause rang out.

By contrast, in his August 21 Times article, Zeleny made no mention of the standing ovation he had reported the day before on the blog and stated that "[t]he reception for Mrs. Clinton was respectful yet tepid." In addition, he wrote in the August 21 article that the applause she did receive “often was started by three young people in the middle of the room” who were not wearing convention badges:

The reception for Mrs. Clinton was respectful yet tepid. Mr. [Republican presidential candidate John] McCain received loud applause when he suggested that a troop pullout would be “a mistake of colossal historical proportions.”

[...]

Still, she devoted only a small part of a 41-minute speech specifically to the mission in Iraq, instead detailing legislation she has introduced to improve services for military veterans. She received no jeers when she called for a gradual withdrawal of troops from Iraq, but the downtown convention center was nearly silent.

[...]

Mr. McCain's speech was interrupted by friendly applause from people seated throughout the hall. When Mrs. Clinton spoke, applause often was started by three young people in the middle of the room who were not wearing the trademark blue V.F.W. cap or convention name badges. But when she finished her speech, she walked onto the convention center floor and shook hands and posed for photographs for several minutes. The Veterans of Foreign Wars, the country's oldest and largest organization of combat veterans, has a membership of 2.3 million. A survey released by the organization's internal magazine found that 91 percent of veterans voted in presidential races.