Newsweek Fires Political Reporter For Error On Trump’s Thanksgiving Plans.
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Newsweek’s embarrassing gaffe on President Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving plans has resulted in the firing of the reporter who wrote that he would spend the day tweeting and golfing.
Instead of tweeting and golfing, President Trump paid a secret visit to the troops in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Field. Newsweek updated its story to reflect that, but reporter Jessica Kwong was terminated.
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The story first appeared on Thursday morning with the headline “How is Trump spending Thanksgiving? Tweeting, golfing and more.”
The publication had egg on its face when it was revealed hours later that Trump met with the troops and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, announcing plans to reopen talks with the Taliban.
The Trumps didn’t let the moment pass. Don Trump Jr. said the coverage was “fake news,” while the President chirped, “I thought Newsweek was out of business?”
Kwong claimed it had been an “honest mistake,” claiming she submitted the story before the trip was announced. In a tweet, she wrote, “Deleting this tweet because it was written before knowing about the president’s surprise visit to Afghanistan – an honest mistake. Story has already been updated, as shown in the screenshot.”
The new headline: “How is Trump spending Thanksgiving? Tweeting, golfing — and surprising U.S. troops in Afghanistan.”
“This story has been substantially updated and edited at 6:17 p.m. EST to reflect the president’s surprise trip to Afghanistan. Additional reporting by James Crowley,” said a footnote on the story.
Kwong claimed in an interview with The Washington Examiner that she was ordered to write about what Trump would be doing for Thanksgiving. Her original was not updated, even though a new story about the Afghanistan trip was written.
Don Trump Jr. tweeted, “It wasn’t an ‘honest mistake’ you tried to dunk on Trump and ended up dunking on yourself because you couldn’t resist. Notice how there’s never been a story that broke in Trump’s favor & had to be corrected the other way? These aren’t mistakes, they are a very consistent pattern.”
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