Bloomberg Law has changed their headline for a now-famous story about a Trump Labor aide who resigned over an old Facebook post. The article deemed the post to be anti-Semitic, but they have since taken that out of the headline after many pointed out that the posts were satirical.
Leif Olson, who worked in the Wage and Hour Division, offered his resignation earlier this week after Bloomberg Law published the piece, “Trump Labor Aide Quits After Anti-Semitic Facebook Posts Surface.”
The 2016 Facebook post and comments that started this controversy were about former House Speaker Paul Ryan winning his primary against Paul Nehlen, a known anti-Muslim bigot. The post was supposed to satirize Nehlen and his allies who were critical of Ryan.
On Wednesday, the Labor Department released a statement saying Olson would resume his work at his position despite previously offering his resignation.
“Following a thorough reexamination of the available information and upon reflection, the Department has concluded that Mr. Olson has satisfactorily explained the tone of the content of his sarcastic social media posts and will return to his position in the Wage and Hour Division,” the statement read.
Following his rehiring, Bloomberg Law opted to change the headline of the story that broke the news of Olson’s resignation. They took out the phrase “Anti-Semitic” from the headline, so it reads, “Trump Labor Aide Quits After Facebook Posts Surface (2).”
In an update, the article explains, “In light of the subsequent events, we removed ‘Anti-Semitic’ from the headline and clarified Olson’s reference to those tropes.”
Slight update: After the Labor Department reinstated Leif Olson, Bloomberg Law published a new story noting Olson had rejoined the agency. I’m told, however, reporters at Bloomberg Law were instructed not to tweet the new story out. It has also not been promoted by @BLaw.
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 5, 2019
But the article does not go as far as to offer a correction, nor does it issue an apology to Olson. CNN’s Oliver Darcy also reported that Bloomberg Law reporters were told not to promote the story about a new story on Olson’s rehiring.
