Time magazine was widely criticized Friday after it depicted immigrant family separation with a photoshopped cover of a girl who was never separated from her parents, and falsely reported that the girl was separated within the story.
The two-year-old Honduran child was photographed crying while her mother was being detained, but it was confirmed that she was never separated from her mother. Several people responded on Twitter to express their disgust with the cover and the story, and many called it “fake news.”
YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT THE CRYING GIRL ON THE COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE WAS NEVER ACTUALLY SEPARATED FROM HER MOTHER?
DID YOU EVEN BOTHER TO CHECK BEFORE YOU PUT THE IMAGE UP ON THE COVER WITH WELCOME TO AMERICA? YOU’RE JUST GIVING TRUMP MORE AMMO ABOUT THE ‘FAKE NEWS MEDIA!’ pic.twitter.com/gzYFxWLbMj
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) June 22, 2018
The @TIME Magazine cover was an outright lie! The child used on the cover was NOT separated from her mother. The left, mainstream media, and Democrats are so hard up for the destruction of @POTUS @realDonaldTrump that they will do absolutely anything to attack him. #FakeNews https://t.co/zTwr7d3QWJ
— Bernard B. Kerik (@BernardKerik) June 22, 2018
Others pointed out that Time might have instead done a cover about the poor conditions of detention facilities under the Obama administration.
“One of these TIME covers accurately depicts a president beside a photo of migrant children callously caged under his administration. The other is propaganda. You decide,” the tweet says accompanied by the Time magazine cover with Trump and one photoshopped with Obama.
One of these TIME covers accurately depicts a president beside a photo of migrant children callously caged under his administration.
The other is propaganda.
You decide. pic.twitter.com/t58RXlRR5w
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) June 22, 2018
Others photoshopped the cover to depict a different image. One changed the cover from “Welcome to America” to instead say “Time… to hire a new researcher” or, “Welcome to fake news.”
A more accurate cover for TIME Magazine. Welcome to Fake News! pic.twitter.com/9YDLP2pyr0
— Reepublican (@reepublican) June 22, 2018
Time Magazine issued a correction Friday, saying that their original report “misstated what happened.”
“The girl was not carried away screaming by U.S. Border Patrol agents; her mother picked her up and the two were taken away together,” the correction stated.
Despite it’s incorrect reporting, the magazine is still standing by its decision to feature her on the cover.
“[The photograph] became the most visible symbol of the ongoing immigration debate in America for a reason,” Time said in a statement. “Our cover and our reporting capture the stakes of this moment.”
JUST IN: Time magazine standing by the cover: pic.twitter.com/gXKg4shL6F
— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) June 22, 2018
The girl’s father, who is still back in Honduras with his three other children, confirmed to the Daily Mail that she and her mother are safer being detained in the U.S. than they were before.
“I know now that they are not in danger,” Denis Javier Varela Hernandez said of his wife and daughter. “They are safer now than when they were making that journey to the border.”
