tech
January 8, 2026
How the New York Times vets images before publishing them.
Unsurprisingly, considering President Trump’s tendency to post AI slop, the New York Times wasn’t exactly keen on publishing his supposed photo of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima without question. Ultimately, the paper couldn’t verify the image’s authenticity but decided to publish it in the context of his Truth Social post. The Times’ Director of Photography Meaghan Looram detailed their skepticism:

TL;DR
- The New York Times published a photo shared by Donald Trump depicting Nicolás Maduro.
- The newspaper had reservations about the photo's authenticity due to its appearance and low quality.
- An AI detector also expressed uncertainty about the image's validity.
- The Times published the photo within the context of Trump's social media post.
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