A US columnist has been shut down by a snarky news outlet after trying to whitewash his opinions published before last year’s presidential election. Andrew Bowen, a columnist with Arab News, an English-language Middle Eastern newspaper, requested that his columns be removed from the site so he has a chance at a White House job under current president Donald Trump.

In response to a request from Andrew Bowen to delete previous articles where he supported Hillary Clinton, Arab News published a now-deleted response, including a link to his full back-catalogue of work.

The post has now been deleted, and at least one pro-Clinton column from before the election has gone from the archive of Bowen’s work for the paper.

Bowen reportedly told the paper he needed the articles removed “stating that this is needed for him ‘to be cleared’ for what he claims to be a possible job with the new Donald Trump administration’s State Department”, the post said.

In their post, Arab News said Mr Bowen had suggested he use his influential friends to help remove the article.

“Arab News possess all correspondence relating to this matter and its position is that such a request is unprofessional journalistically, particularly given that there were no factual errors or libellous comments that require a redaction or correction,” the post said. — Emily Watkins