A Newsweek reporter, Jessica Kwong, who published a story Thursday about President Trump's Thanksgiving Day agenda, is reported to have been fired from the role after the article was ridiculed online.
The article, originally titled “How Did Trump Spend Thanksgiving? Tweeting, Golfing and More” was mocked as the President was actually spending Thanksgiving day with troops in Afghanistan.
At the time of the article's publication, the President was already on a flight to Afghanistan.
The news of Trump's Afghanistan visit broke a couple of hours after Kwong tweeted her article – and the backlash was swift.
The article was heavily criticized by both social media users – as well as Donald Trump Jr and The President himself, Donald Trump.
I thought Newsweek was out of business? https://t.co/3ro4eSJloo
In the evening, President Trump weighed-in on the controversy, commenting on a tweet by his son Donald Trump. Jr.
“I thought Newsweek was out of business?” the president said, referencing the outlet's recent financial troubles.
A Newsweek spokesperson has told The Washington Examiner that the reporter has been terminated.
“Newsweek investigated the failures that led to the publication of the inaccurate report that President Trump spent Thanksgiving tweeting and golfing rather than visiting troops in Afghanistan…The story has been corrected, and the journalist responsible has been terminated. We will continue to review our processes and, if required, take further action.”
Kwong has since tweeted that it was an “honest mistake”.
“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,” she tweeted.
Trump headed to Afghanistan to surprise U.S. troops on Thanksgiving https://t.co/f7Xeqz1ZGQ 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. pic.twitter.com/g9CfPaV2kQ
While, at the time of publication, it was unlikely that Kwong would have been able to know the President was visiting Afghanistan, as extreme security measures were used for safety and to prevent the word from getting out – some criticized the tone of the article and the way it suggested the President wasn't doing anything noble for the occasion.
“As with any other day of the year, Trump will probably be tweeting, or expressing his opinions in another way. On Thanksgiving Eve, Trump tweeted an image of his head on the body of Rocky Balboa, the fictional boxer portrayed by actor Sylvester Stallone in numerous movies,” Kwong wrote in her story.
Just read Jessica Kwong's timeline….sheesh… pic.twitter.com/cucN1zO2Rp
https://twitter.com/SohrabAhmari/status/1200244064127520769
Just returned to the United States after spending a GREAT Thanksgiving with our Courageous American Warriors in Afghanistan! pic.twitter.com/b2vgY5BH6z
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2019
As the media are often falsely reporting on the President and having to issue retractions, some have suggested that there is perhaps more to this story and that Kwong's dismissal could have been for wider reasons – as this time, it was almost impossible for Kwong to have known the President's plans and could only go off of the official schedule.
The Washington Examiner later updated the story with a statement from Kwong who said that “she was assigned to write a story about what the President was doing on Thanksgiving a week in advance and filed it to her editors on Wednesday.”
“Then, she explained that she sent a message to the editor on duty with the President's latest actions and the editor published the piece,” the Washington Examiner wrote. “That editor decided to have a reporter write a new story on Trump's surprise trip to Afghanistan, and neglected to update Kwong's original piece in a timely manner.”
In the spectrum of TDS fueled "journalism" failures, this ranks quite low. She's a nobody and it's easiest to throw her overboard to cover the sins of the industry. I'd love to see some editors fired too.
This is just a fig leaf for a much bigger problem that'll go unaddressed
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) November 30, 2019
If outlets started firing every journo that tweets false stories about Trump, CNN Headquarters would be one empty building.
— R.J. Kendall ? (@RJ_Kendall) November 30, 2019
Otherwise, many many many reporters would have been terminated by now
— April (@aprilmay1721) November 30, 2019
“If outlets started firing every journo that tweets false stories about Trump, CNN Headquarters would be one empty building,” one user noted.
