USA Today Provided cover to Stacey Abrams after news agency allowed news agency to edit line of opinion piece stating “can’t argue” with people who chose to boycott their business in Georgia Has been accused of doing so.
so March 31 editorial Regarding the company’s response to the new voting law in Georgia, which Abrams called “racist,” she wrote that she doesn’t think boycotts are “still needed.” But she added: “I can’t discuss individual choices for their competition until I hear a clear and unambiguous statement that Georgia-based companies are at stake.”
Two days after publication, Major League Baseball announced that the 2021 All-Star Game will be withdrawn from Atlanta by state voting law. In response to the, USA Today Allowed Abrams Significantly edited Her editorial.Much of the editing seems to have little to do with MLB’s decision to move the All-Star game to Colorado, but Abrams added that he would lose the game, and the MLB draft State costs $ 100 million With lost income.
She deleted the line saying she couldn’t argue with those who boycott Georgia’s business, and instead wrote: “
In the revised edition, Abrams said, “Boycotts are always expensive to work with,” and “on behalf of boycotts, do business in Georgia for other events and productions, and oppose laws and similar proposals in other states. I urge you to do so. “
According to the Internet Archive, Abrams’ work was updated on the afternoon of April 6, but no editorial notes were added to allow changes for more than two weeks on April 22.
Republican strategist Matt Whitlock said on Twitter that PolitiFact would cite an edited version of Abrams’ editorial and protect her from accusations of supporting the boycott before the MLB decision. After the MLB decision, when the editorial was updated on April 6, the fact check quoted “Boycotts are always expensive to work” was added.
Attempt by National Review Contacting USA Today’s Opinion Editor Kristen del Guzzi by phone and email on Tuesday failed.
In a prepared statement, a spokesman for USA Today’s parent company, Ganett, told Fox News: As soon as I realized that there was no editor’s note, I added it to the page to reflect her changes. We have reviewed the procedure to prevent this from happening again. “
Georgia’s Democrats argue nationwide that the new Georgia voting law is designed to curb turnout in metropolitan areas of states with a large number of minority voters. President Joe Biden called the law “Steroid Jim Crow, ” I lied about the rule..
Republican leaders in Georgia have defended the law from attacks aimed at suppressing minority voters, saying the comparison with Jim Crow’s law is irrelevant.
In an opinion piece on April 6, USA Today’s deputy editorial page editor, David Mastio, said Georgia law There is nothing like Jim CrowIs more liberal than many other state election laws and probably does not affect turnout.