Tarrant County Republican Vice Chair and Southlake City Councilman Shahid Shafi had an editorial published by the Washington Post originally titled “I joined the GOP because it stood for religious freedom. It still does.”
The Houston Chronicle republished the article, without Shafi’s knowledge or permission, with a starkly different headline that read: “My fellow Texas Republicans tried to oust me because I’m Muslim. They failed.”
The piece itself addressed the controversy when a minority within the Tarrant County Republican Executive Committee tried to oust him as Vice Chair. Dr. Shafi wrote about the experience and how the effort was soundly defeated by a vote of 139-49.
On choosing to run for office as a Republican, Shafi wrote that “I knew I was joining a party that stood for limited government, low taxes, free enterprise, individual responsibility and religious freedom.” He went on to praise the party, writing he had “received overwhelming and heartwarming support from Republicans at all levels of the party — from rank-and-file members to top officials at the local, state and national levels. With the vote to keep me in my position, the party of Lincoln and Reagan has shown that it remains open to all Americans, regardless of their religion, caste, creed, color, ethnicity or country of origin.”
Upon learning of the actions of the Houston Chronicle, Shafi informed Texas Scorecardthat he would seek to have it pulled.
This morning, the Chronicle changed the headline to match the one of the Washington Post’s. There is no mention of there being a correction made anywhere in the article. The last correction listed in their corrections page is dated November 30, 2017.
The latest actions by the Houston Chronicle only serve to hasten the ongoing corrosion of trust with the liberal media, giving credence to the term: fake news.
