Matt Bernhardt

If I understand the linked bug report correctly, this is a known issue with the switch_to_blog() function, which might be fixed in the 3.9 release? I think? I’m not well versed in the internals of WordPress so I may be missing something.

At any rate, I’ve managed to get the code block working now by abandoning the_post_thumbnail() in favor of a custom-rewritten image tag. Here’s the code:

<?php
// switch to news blog
switch_to_blog(7);

$args = array(
	'post_type' => 'post',
	'post_status' => 'publish',
	'posts_per_page' => 5,
	'orderby' => 'post_date',
	'order' => 'DESC',
	'tag' => 'foobar'
	);

$the_slides = null;
$the_slides = new WP_Query($args);

if( $the_slides->have_posts() ) {
	while ( $the_slides->have_posts() ) : $the_slides->the_post();
		setup_postdata($post);

		$image = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id(), 'thumbnail');
		$imageURL = str_replace('/foobar/wp-content/uploads/','/news/files/',$image[0]);
		$imageTag = '<img src="'.$imageURL.'" alt="" height="'.$image[2].'" width="'.$image[1].'">';
		?>
		<p>
			<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
				<?php echo $imageTag; ?><br>
				<?php the_title(); ?>
			</a><br>
			<?php the_time('F jS, Y'); ?><br>
		</p>

		<?php

	endwhile;
}

// switch back to Foobar site
restore_current_blog();
?>

Hopefully this helps save someone else some trouble.