New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin got caught passing off a local reporter’s photo as his own.
Whitney Bermes with the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in Montana posted a photo of the citation Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte received after reportedly throwing a reporter to the ground.
A copy of Greg Gianforte’s citation. There is no affidavit with it. #mtal pic.twitter.com/oP6k7CsTZz
— Whitney Bermes (@wabermes) May 25, 2017
Less than hour after Bermes shared the photo on Twitter, Martin tweeted the exact same picture with the caption, “I’ve obtained a copy of the Gallatin Co summons for Gianforte’s assault charge.”
I’ve obtained a copy of the Gallatin Co summons for Gianforte’s assault charge > pic.twitter.com/wqKgU5oNLx
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) May 25, 2017
Martin denies that he ripped the photo from Bermes’ feed, even though the two photos have the exact same shadow, and the exact same piece of paper covering up Gianforte’s driver’s license information. “Look at those pics side by side. They are the exact same,” Bermes wrote on Twitter. “That’s my photo.
@jmartNYT Look at those pics side by side. They are the exact same. Same piece of paper redacting personal information, same shadow. That’s my photo.
— Whitney Bermes (@wabermes) May 25, 2017
“I was one of two reporters to get the first copies of the citation,” Bermes told TheDC. “I immediately took a photo of it. I know it is mine because there was a shadow in my phone and I also used a small scrap of paper from my reporter’s notebook to cover up Mr. Gianforte’s driver’s license information.”
Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.