The New York Times was lampooned across media platforms for a supposed “fact check” on President-elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Referring to RFK Jr., the NYT article read, “Mr. Kennedy has singled out Froot Loops as an example of a product with too many artificial ingredients, questioning why the Canadian version has fewer than the U.S. version. But he was wrong. The ingredient list is roughly the same, although Canada’s has natural colorings made from blueberries and carrots while the U.S. product contains red dye 40, yellow 5 and blue 1 as well as Butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT, a lab-made chemical that is used ‘for freshness,’ according to the ingredient label.”
Quickly, X users and other major publications were having a go at the paper of record.
Spitting out my coffee after reading this NYT “fact check” of RFK Jr. pic.twitter.com/sqL9jaeUR1
— Brad Cohn (@BradCohn) November 17, 2024
“Spitting out my coffee after reading this NYT ‘fact check’ of RFK Jr.,” X user Brad Cohn tweeted alongside a screenshot of the story.
Responding to himself, Cohn followed up with a parody: “As you see, the ingredient list is just completely identical, except the US product contains formaldehyde, cyanide, and nearly undetectable levels of saxitoxin.”
The following day, NYP ran the headline, “NYT dragged for hilariously botched ‘fact check’ of RFK Jr.’s war on artificial ingredients.”
Fox News followed up with its own headline, “NYT’s fact-check of RFK Jr.’s claims about popular breakfast cereal stuns social media.”
NYP appears to have somewhat backed down and changed the wording, with the article now reading, “Mr. Kennedy has singled out Froot Loops as an example of a product with too many ingredients. In an interview with MSNBC on Nov. 6, he questioned the overall ingredient count: ‘Why do we have Froot Loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients and you go to Canada and it has two or three?’ Mr. Kennedy asked.”
In the next paragraph, the reporters now say, “He was wrong on the ingredient count, they are roughly the same. But the Canadian version does have natural colorings made from blueberries and carrots while the U.S. product contains red dye 40, yellow 5 and blue 1 as well as Butylated hydroxytoluene, or BHT, a lab-made chemical that is used ‘for freshness,’ according to the ingredient label.”
The following correction note at the bottom of the article appears to have been attached at some point on Sunday:
“A correction was made on November 17, 2024: Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article incorrectly described Mr. Kennedy’s recent comments on Froot Loops. He was comparing the total number of ingredients in the U.S. and Canadian versions of the cereal, not the number of artificial ingredients.”
The article appeared under the headline, “Kennedy’s Vow to Take On Big Food Could Alienate His New G.O.P. Allies,” written by NYT reporters who cover the Food and Drug Administration and the food industry.
Interest in the backfired fact check has grown so large that, at the time of this writing, the Fox News story is the top Google result if one searches for “Robert F Kennedy Jr.” under News.
I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 14, 2024
RFK Jr.’s nomination was announced on November 13 with a leak to the outlet Politico. The next day, Trump tweeted, “I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). … Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
