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Kavanaugh hearings: New York Times deleted Twitter poll asking if Dr Christine Ford's testimony was 'credible'

Kavanaugh hearings: New York Times deleted Twitter poll asking if Dr Christine Ford's testimony was 'credible'

The New York Times' opinion section has deleted an ill advised Twitter poll asking about whether readers think that Christine Blasey Ford's testimony was 'credible' or not.

The poll read:

Christine Blasey Ford is testifying before the State Judiciary Committee today. Do you think her testimony is credible?

Picture:Picture: (@nytopinion / Twitter )

The opinion section of the newspaper tweeted the poll during Blasey Ford's emotional and wrenching testimony, in which she alleged that Supreme Court Judge nominee Brett Kavanaugh, and his friend Mark Judge, corralled her into a bedroom in 1982 and assaulted her. Kavanaugh denies the allegations.

She alleges that Kavanaugh groped her, tried to undress her, and covered her mouth to suppress her screams, leaving her scared for her life, during a high school party.

Asked by senator Patrick Leahy about what stuck most prevalently in her mind from the alleged attack, she outlined that it was the apparent enjoyment the two men, who were in high school at the time, took in the assault.

She said:

The uproarious laughter between the two, and their having fun at my expense.

I was underneath one of them while the two laughed. Two friends having a really good time with one another.

After backlash online, the newspaper quickly deleted the poll.

After deleting the tweet, the opinion section was quick to apologise for the tweet, and rushed to clarify that it had intended to do a similar poll regards whether Brett Kavanaugh's statement had been credible, too.

Taking to the social media platform, it wrote:

We're sorry for this tweet. In retrospect, a Twitter poll is insensitive in light of the gravity of this hearing. We've deleted it.

It then followed up:

We also recognize [sic] that asking only about Dr. Blasey's credibility was inappropriate. We had intended to tweet a second poll about Judge Kavanaugh's credibility this afternoon.

HT Washington Post

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