The New York Times' King-Sized Mix-Up

I'm starting to feel sorry for the folks over at The New York Times' obit desk. They seem to have bad karma when it comes to photogs' obituaries. (Remember Joe O'Donnell?)

Today the Times posted the following correction to its obit of civil rights photog Ernest C. Withers:

Because of an editing error, an obituary yesterday about the photographer Ernest C. Withers, who documented life in the segregated South in the 1950s and ’60s, from the civil rights movement to the Memphis blues scene, misidentified the person he photographed arm in arm with Elvis Presley at a Memphis club in 1956. It was B. B. King, not the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

My initial thought: Oh my gosh, I can't believe they mistook B.B. King for Martin Luther King, Jr.! But it's not quite that bad. I had assumed the correction was referring to a photo caption. In actuality, the image itself isn't used to illustrate the story. I'm assuming that the reporter didn't look at Withers' pix while writing the obit, though that isn't a very reassuring thought.

And it's clearly not helping the Times' case over at Gawker. Commenters are all shook up about the Times mistaking one black King for another. They've mentioned just about every other famous King possible, Carole included. And a couple have even pointed out the frequency with which the media mistakes famous black people with one another.

Better luck next time, Times obit desk ...

Previously on PDN Online: Ernest Withers, Civil Rights Photographer, Dies at 85