News outlet attempts to disparage mask-less Trump supporters, but nearly everyone in the photo was masked

Left-leaning news website the Hill attempted to disparage Trump supporters in North Carolina on Tuesday, but seemingly disproved its own criticism with a photo from a Trump campaign rally.

What happened?

The news outlet published a story Tuesday about President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

"Trump, supporters gather without masks in NC despite request from local GOP official," the headline blared.

The story went on to say:

President Trump and scores of supporters gathered for a rally in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Tuesday without masks, despite the urging of a local Republican official and a state mandate.

Dave Plyler, the GOP chairman of the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners, told The Winston-Salem Journal that he felt Trump should abide by Gov. Roy Cooper's (D) order for individuals to wear a face covering when unable to socially distance."It's been ordered by the governor," Plyler told the news outlet. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in North Carolina, do as the governor says."

But Trump, who has only worn a mask a few times in public, did not wear a face covering while in North Carolina. And only a smattering of supporters could be seen wearing masks, some with "MAGA" emblazoned on them.

But, as it turned out, many of Trump's supporters did wear face masks at the rally.

The Hill even proved this by including a picture of Trump's supporters — a majority of whom are clearly seen with face masks — as the featured image on its story.

Image source: Twitter/@thehill screenshot

However, as video and images from the rally showed, many Trump supporters did not wear face masks, lending credibility to the Hill's angle of criticism.

What was the response?

The Hill was mocked for pushing narrative over truth.

"Not only can you zoom in on this photo and see everyone has a mask but in @thehill article they have a video that plays where you can see everyone wearing a mask. Journalism is dead," one person responded.

Another person noted, "In addition to lacking objectivity, the media also lacks eyesight as most Trump supporters seen in the picture are wearing a mask."

What did the Hill do?

The news outlet deleted its original tweet — which racked up more than 13,000 mostly critical responses — and retweeted the story with a new image.

However, the outlet did not change the headline on the story or the framing of its story. Editors did remove a claim that only a "smattering" of supporters wore masks.

The story now reads that images from the rally "showed many attendees were not wearing masks before or after Trump took the stage." This was true.