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BuzzFeed Pairs ‘Whorish’ Headline With Conservative Blogger

When reporting on anything that could potentially be offensive, journalists typically take great care when pairing up images with words. But not today’s BuzzFeed. Case in point, a Tuesday post by the fabulously named Rosie Gray. The post took a sampling of a conservative blogger’s personal rant on the “sluts” who attended CPAC.

“Another Problem at Conservative Conference: Whorishness,” blared BuzzFeed‘s headline of the item. It was paired with a large photo of Melissa Clouthier, the blogger who wrote the “sluts” rant. See the screen cap above.

In the full context of BuzzFeed‘s post, there’s nothing wrong with paring that headline with that photo of Clouthier. But to an unwitting reader (and let’s be honest, the unwitting reader has got to be at least 30 percent of BuzzFeed‘s audience) who simply takes a quick glance, it leaves the impression that Clouthier may be among the so called “whores.”

We emailed Clouthier to see what she thought about her mug being set under that headline. “BuzzFeed is doing what they can for hits,” she said, adding, “This is typical of the misogyny of the left and I’m used to it.”

We’re not sure if Gray is actually politically aligned with the left. We reached out to her for comment and will update if she responds.

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