The New York Times called Mao Zedong “one of history’s great revolutionary figures.”
Now, the Times has deleted that claim, which was posted in a tweet, and admitted it “lacked critical historical context.”
In an e-mail to iMediaEthics, a Times spokesperson told iMediaEthics, “We have no comment beyond the tweet that acknowledged the deletion.”
The original claim was made in a tweet linking to a story about Mao’s 1976 death, for which the anniversary was this month. “The Times received social media criticism for that framing and omission of the mass murder of at least 45 million people under Mao’s rule,” according to Mediaite.
The original tweet read, “Mao Zedong died on this day in 1976. The Times said he “began as an obscure peasant” and “died one of history’s great revolutionary figures,” THe tweet linked to the Times’ obituary.
In a Sept. 9 tweet, the Times wrote, “We’ve deleted a previous tweet about Mao Zedong that lacked critical historical context.”