Washington Post admits ‘error’ after Brett Kavanaugh story placed in public safety section

The Washington Post admitted Wednesday it made an “error” after a story about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh returning to coach girls’ basketball was placed in a section labeled “Public Safety.”

The article titled, “Brett Kavanaugh worried that scandal would end his coaching days. Now the Supreme Court justice is back on the basketball court,” was written by law reporter Ann Marimow, who covers the federal courts in Washington.

Screenshots posted by National Republican Senatorial Committee member Logan Dobson showed the Kavanaugh story among a handful of other stories about local small-scale crimes and tragedies.

yes truly this is where a story about a local youth basketball coach belongs pic.twitter.com/SSepTvi80q

— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) November 27, 2018

Twitter users and conservative media immediately picked up on the peculiar placement, arguing that it suggested Justice Kavanaugh, who was confirmed last month amid allegations of sexual misconduct, posed a threat to the young girls he’s coaching.

WHAT BIAS? Washington Post Puts Story About Kavanaugh Coaching Basketball Under ‘Public Safety’ Tag | @AsheSchow https://t.co/wuDskrsnft pic.twitter.com/1RfvaTYuZk

— The Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) November 28, 2018

Umm, why did the Washington Post categorize a story about Justice Brett Kavanaugh coaching girls basketball in the “Public Safety” section? pic.twitter.com/wOcVCItwxC

— Ellen L. Carmichael (@ellencarmichael) November 28, 2018

The gutter journalism that still surrounds reports about Brett Kavanaugh make me want to tear my hair out: https://t.co/EHli4IwPsY

— Ashe Schow (@AsheSchow) November 28, 2018

What a JOKE… Media BIAS is REAL…

Washington Post TAGS story about Kavanaugh coaching GIRLS basketball under ‘PUBLIC SAFETY’…https://t.co/P5XlAviMIv

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) November 28, 2018

The Washington Post said the placement was an error and that the story had since been moved to the website’s local news section.

“Legal affairs stories written by that author automatically default to the public safety category. Obviously, this one shouldn’t have been there and once we caught the error we corrected it,” a spokesperson said in a statement provided to Law & Crime.