Under the headline "Dior in the Desert," the New York Times wrote about a Christian Dior fashion show in the mountains near Los Angeles:
So what does it say that Dior unveiled the first cruise collection by its artistic director, Maria Grazia Chiuri, in the desert? To be specific: in the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve in the Santa Monica Mountains in California, where it was the first brand to ever have a show?
Possibly not what Dior intended.
To many, after all, the idea of wandering in the desert — even catwalking in the desert, for that matter — is inextricably entwined with the idea of expulsion: being forced away from one's home and left to fend for oneself until a new sanctuary is found (see: Exodus).
Leave aside the preposterous idea that the Exodus involved "being forced away from one's home," which I'll address elsewhere at some other time. As the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area's official Twitter account pointed out, in a series of tweets noticed and strung together by the laist.com website, the Santa Monica Mountains aren't a desert at all; they are part of a Mediterranean ecosystem.
The Times article has yet to be corrected, as of this writing.
Given the obsessive attention the Times gave to previous National Park Service tweets challenging the factual accuracy of statements by President Trump, you'd think the Times would pay some attention to this case. Otherwise, it might suggest that the newspaper holds itself to a lesser standard of accuracy.