New Delhi: The United States government has heavily criticized the noted American media outlet The New York Times for how it covered the heinous terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 25 tourists and a local person were killed by the militants. The US House Foreign Affairs Committee slammed the publication since it downplayed the incident’s gravity and failed to understand its deep significance as the media outlet used terms like ‘gunmen’ and ‘militants’ instead of calling the perpetrators ‘terrorists’ in a straightforward manner.
The committee took to X (formerly Twitter), and sharply rebuked the words used by the newspaper while describing the terror attack. It shared an image of the original headline which read “At Least 24 Tourists Gunned Down by Militants in Kashmir”. The committee struck out the word “militants” and replaced it in bold red with “terrorists”. The committee wrote, “Hey, @nytimes we fixed it for you. This was a TERRORIST ATTACK plain and simple. Whether it’s India or Israel, when it comes to TERRORISM the NYT is removed from reality,” attacking the NYT for minimising terror acts through diluted terminology.
The Trump administration strongly supports India after the Pahalgam terror attack.
As per reports, the New York Times initially described the perpetrators as “militants”, and called the incident merely a “shooting”. It wrote in its reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “called the shooting, the worst against civilians in the region for years, a ‘terror attack’ and vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice”. The publication called the terrorist attack simply a ‘shooting’ and called it ‘terrorism’ only by attributing it to PM Modi’s description of the gruesome incident. The NYT report evoked strong criticisms from several departments of the US government helmed by President Donald Trump, a key ally of PM Modi.
US supports India in its fight against terrorism
The Trump administration strongly supports India after the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. President Trump called PM Modi on Wednesday to express his condolences and offer full support in the government’s efforts to find the terrorists and provide justice to the 26 victims. As per the Ministry of External Affairs, the US and India are united in this fight against terrorism. US Vice President JD Vance also called PM Modi and offered full support to India in this difficult period.
Not the first time
The US government recently openly criticised The New York Times for its editorial choices over another incident. It took place on April 18 when the official White House account slammed both The New York Times and Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen over a headline regarding a deported migrant. The original headline read, “Senator Meets With Wrongly Deported Maryland Man in El Salvador”. The White House edited the image by crossing out “Maryland man” and “wrongly” and replaced them with “MS-13 illegal alien” and “who’s never coming back”. The criticism shows the Trump administration’s stance on the matter.
On the other hand, the Indian government has taken several steps to strongly counterattack Pakistan. The measures include putting the Indus Water Treaty on hold, which can lead to water scarcity in India. Also, the government convened an all-party meeting following the attack and discussed the important points of the terror attack.
