The New York Times recently published a review of a book about Osama bin Laden, but changed the headline after receiving backlash for calling the terrorist leader a “devoted family man”.
The book being discussed was Peter Bergen’s “The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden” and Louise Richardson’s original review title was “Osama bin Laden, the Fanatical Terrorist and the Devoted Family Man”. The article was released just a month before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 events.
One of the many criticizers of the Times is former U.S. Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill, the man who fatally wounded bin Laden 10 years ago. O’Neill tweeted “Family man. He used his wife as a human shield. Lucky for me he was taller than her”.
Dan Crenshaw of Texas also condemned the headline by tweeting “Nothing screams family man like using your (multiple) wives as human shields”.
Others such as army veteran Wesley Hunt, Kevin Tober of the Media Research Center, Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Joey Jones of Fox News have responded online about the review.
Hunt added “It’s no wonder why so many Americans are disillusioned with our media” and Jones said he’s not sure why an article of this sort would be written in the first place except to get people talking.
In the book review, Richardson highlighted bin Laden’s childhood and family life. The terrorist leader was known to train his sons in extreme conditions to be “tough” and he often separated his daughters at the age of 3 from males.
The new headline reads “A Fuller Picture of Osama bin Laden’s Life”.