After all the talk in the last few weeks about the scourge fake news and its effect on the outcome of the election, you’d think that reporters would want to go the extra mile to confirm facts before they are reported. That wasn’t the case late Friday night, when a number of reporters rushed to Twitter to report that President Trump has removed the bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., from the Oval Office.
Now, if you are a reporter who already believes Trump is a racist, then this “fact” would fit nicely into your narrative, so of course you’d be eager to push it out as “news”. Unfortunately, it’s just not true, and a number of reporters were burned when they relayed information that turned out to be false.
The reports began to surface in the early evening, as Trump invited press into the Oval Office to watch as he was signing executive orders.
The Martin Luther King jr. Bust has been moved out of the Oval Office according The People Magazine DC Bureau Chief who was in there this pm
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) January 21, 2017
From White House pool reporter @toddgillman: the MLK bust is no longer in the Oval Office. A bust of Winston Churchill is back though.
— Philip Crowther (@PhCrowther) January 21, 2017
The original report seemed to originate with TIME reporter Zeke Miller, who, after rushing to include the detail in a press pool report, backpedaled quickly.
Correction: The MLK bust is still in the Oval Office. It was obscured by an agent and door.
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 21, 2017
New White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer tamped down the burgeoning controversy quickly and admonished the press to be more careful.
A reminder of the media danger of tweet first check facts later https://t.co/dYqwRv1p0f
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 21, 2017
Spicer then sent out a picture of the MLK bust, still in place, in the Oval Office.
Thanks to White House Chief of Staff for this wonderful picture of the MLK bust in the oval pic.twitter.com/Lzgj6RljvI
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 21, 2017