Newsweek edits 5-year-old article which contradicted smear campaign against Tom Cotton

Left-leaning magazine Salon published an article over the weekend falsely claiming that Republican Senator Tom Cotton has repeatedly lied about being an Army Ranger.

"Cotton attended the Ranger School, a two-month-long, small-unit tactical infantry course that literally anyone in the military is eligible to attend," the article said. "Soldiers who complete the course earn the right to wear the Ranger tab — a small arch that reads “Ranger” — but in the eyes of the military, that does not make them an actual Army Ranger." It was also noted that "Cotton was never part of the 75th Ranger Regiment."

Cotton appeared on Fox News on Tuesday to defend his record, suggesting that the claims made by Salon are not "about my service, it's about my politics," and noted that military generals have used to the term to describe graduates of the school.

Cotton has never claimed to have been part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, only noting that he was an Army Ranger which, while not referring to the more well-known regiment, is nevertheless factual. Regardless, the story was picked up by Newsweek, writing "[those] who complete the challenging course are then able to wear a Ranger tab on their uniform, but they are not technically considered an Army Ranger."

There was only one complication – Newsweek had previously described graduates of the Army Ranger School as Army Rangers.

"For the first time in the Army Ranger School's 64-year history, two women have completed the intense training program and will become Rangers," Newsweek published in a 2015 article.

Noting this inconsistency, Cotton’s communications director Caroline Tabler contacted Newsweek to inform them of the incongruence.

Instead of retracting the story, Newsweek edited the 2015 article to say simply that the women "will be allowed to wear the coveted Ranger tab on their uniforms." They also issued a correction stating that the "article has been changed to note that completion of the course allows one to wear the Ranger tab, but does not make one a Ranger."

Salon has also published stories in the past describing graduates of the school as Army Rangers, including in an article where the author, who graduated from the school, was described as an "Army Ranger." Salon did not issue a correction, however.