>>> On 12 June 2003, the New York Times ran an article headlined: "Goal Is to Lay Cornerstone at Ground Zero During GOP Convention." It appeared in the print version and on the Web.

At some point during the day, the Web headline was changed, thus becoming: "Officials Plan Speedy Ground Zero Environmental Review."

A reader alerted me to the change, and I read the article, noting that the first paragraph said:

Rebuilding officials said yesterday that they hoped to complete a review of the environmental impact of the proposed construction at the World Trade Center site by next April. This would allow them to lay the cornerstone of a 1,776-foot tower in August 2004, during the Republican National Convention.

Later in the day, this first paragraph changed. It now reads:

Rebuilding officials said yesterday that they hoped to complete a review of the environmental impact of the proposed construction at the World Trade Center site by next April. This would allow them to start construction by the summer of 2004.

The part about laying the cornerstone during the Republican convention has been excised, not only from that paragraph but from the entire article.

Apparently, the NYT--that bastion of the "liberal media"--didn't want to upset the GOP by pointing out that the building of the new World Trade Center tower is being cynically timed to give the Republicans a photo-op during their convention. Lords knows we wouldn't people to know that some politicians are using the deaths of 3,000 people as a way to boost their chances in the 2004 elections.

Click here for the current version of the article

The image below from Google News shows the article with its original headline and mention of the RNC. (You can click on it to see a cache of the whole Google News search results page.)

Below is a scan of the entire article from the print edition, preceded by a close-up of the first paragaph:.

Thanks to a reader for pointing this out and scanning the article.

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