It’s evident that after the Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shooting, the mantra of the day will have something to do with toning down the rhetoric.
On Sunday afternoon, Christine Pelosi, daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, voiced her opposition to a particular headline to Politico’s Meredith Shiner, via Twitter:
“@politico @meredithshiner Your “Liberals Target Palin” headline is unhelpful. How bout a non-violent non-gun verb for your story? #Giffords”
The Jan. 8 Politico story headlined “Liberals target Sarah Palin” was written by Shiner and Carrie Budoff Brown. The same story was highlighted on the conservative Internet forum Free Republic, which said that if accusations that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s SarahPac cross-hair campaign was inciting violence, this Politico headline could be as well.
Shiner, the co-author of the article, responded to Pelosi:
@sfpelosi I unfortunately don’t write headlines and hadn’t seen that but will email editor asap.
The headline was changed to “Liberals blame Sarah Palin in wake of Tucson shooting.” The top paragraph and the image accompanying the story were also changed.
Pelosi indicated her appreciation to Politico on Twitter for the change:
@BiasedGirl unhelpful to mourners, that is whom. No need for inflammatory rhetoric esp at sad time. @POLITICO changed it which I appreciate