Donald Trump has criticised the New York Times after the newspaper was forced to change its front-page headline amid an intense backlash over its sympathetic portrayal of the president’s statement on the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio that left 31 people dead.

The headline, which first splashed across page the front page in the New York Times print edition Tuesday, read “Trump urges unity vs racism”. The headline was changed to “Assailing hate but not guns”, in the paper’s second edition, but the change failed to quell the uproar.

Many readers complained that the wording fed Trump’s claims that those who criticised his persistent anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric – some of which was repeated in the El Paso gunman’s alleged manifesto – were playing politics.

Trump blamed “the glorification of violence” in a speech that identified video games, the internet and mental illness – but not guns – as the cause of the slaughter that left at least 31 dead and 53 injured in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, in less than 24 hours over the weekend. He did not address the criticisms of his own divisive rhetoric.

On Wednesday Trump praised the initial headline in a tweet, saying it “was the correct description… by the Failing New York Times”. He said the paper was forced to change the description because “Radical Left Democrats went absolutely CRAZY! Fake News - That’s what we’re up against...”

“Trump Urges Unity Vs. Racism,” was the correct description in the first headline by the Failing New York Times, but it was quickly changed to, “Assailing Hate But Not Guns,” after the Radical Left Democrats went absolutely CRAZY! Fake News - That’s what we’re up against... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2019

Trump is expected to face a backlash when he visits El Paso and Dayton on Wednesday, to meet with officials, first responders and members of the community. Authorities are investigating the El Paso shooting as domestic terrorism, while the Dayton shooting is being treated as homicide.

The executive editor of the New York Times accepted responsibility after the paper changed its headline.

The headline appeared in the print edition of the New York Times, which Dean Baquet said has become less of a focus for the paper’s leadership, known as the masthead within the industry.

“The print hub is not right in the middle of the news desk anymore,” Baquet told the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR). “I don’t lay out the page. I don’t pick the front-page stories. I don’t think that’s the role of the executive editor anymore.”

He added: “It’s important for me to say, if anyone is at fault, the executive editor is at fault,” and said: “It didn’t have enough skepticism of what the president said.”

Tomorrow's NYT print edition.



Not sure "TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM" is how I would have framed the story. pic.twitter.com/quOibXsp32 — Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 6, 2019

The headline failed to capture the “reasons to be skeptical” of Trump’s call for Americans to come together following the shootings, and white supremacy as an “evident problem”, Baquet told the CJR.

Leading up to the shootings, Trump was under intense criticism for racist comments directed to four congresswomen of color. He tweeted the women should “go back” to where they came from, a longtime racist trope. All but one of the women was born in the United States.

Many people complained the headline legitimized Trump’s supporters, who argued critics were playing politics rather than rightfully denouncing inflammatory anti-immigrant sentiment. Trump’s rhetoric was quoted in a screed by a shooter in El Paso.

The headline first gained widespread attention when it was tweeted by the prominent statistician Nate Silver, of the website FiveThirtyEight, which was previously published by the New York Times.

The headline also lead to criticism by 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, including the New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who tweeted: “That’s not what happened”, and the New Jersey senator Cory Booker.

Lives literally depend on you doing better, NYT. Please do. https://t.co/L4CpCb8zLi — Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) August 6, 2019

The furor has also lead to calls on social media to cancel subscriptions to the New York Times. A spokesperson for the newspaper conceded to CJR the outlet was experiencing a “higher volume of cancellations” than is “typical”.

The uproar spotlighted how newsrooms’ focus has shifted from print editions to digital, and the rift between Times readers’ expectations and the sensibilities of the masthead, CJR argued.

“I don’t believe our role is to be the leaders of the opposition party,” Baquet told CJR.