Caroline-Besotted Times Yanks Palin Comparison

The New York Times watered down its own story about press-shy Caroline Kennedy's awkward Upstate New York visit last week, Gawker reports. The first version posted online noted the similarity to Sarah Palin, as her aides whisked her away from reporters questioning her experience. But the provocative Palin reference vanished from the story by the time it got to print, as did the words "carefully controlled press strategy."

All mention of her being interrupted by her own handler as she started to answer reporters' questions was excised, along with her attempt at apology: "Hopefully I can come back and answer all those questions." Gawker accuses the Times editors of sanitizing the story to put Kennedy in a flattering light because of her friendship with the paper's publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr.


(More Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg stories.)