On Christmas Day, NBC News published an article online that listed all Christmastime visits to active military from 2001 until today. The article was headlined, “Trump becomes first president since 2002 not to visit troops at Christmatime.”
But, the day after Christmas, Pres. Trump did go to Iraq to visit troops. Because of that, NBC News updated its article and added an editor’s note admitting the news made it so “the thrust oft his article is no longer correct, even if it was at the time.” As such NBC News changed its headline to specifiy Trump didn’t visit troops before or on Christmas.
The Washington Post’s Erik Wemple noted that on Dec. 26, an embargoed White House pool report revealed that Trump left late Christmas evening and Air Force One was “wheels up at 12:06 am ET on Dec. 26.”
NBC News declined to comment to iMediaEthics beyond the editor’s note.
The NBC News editor’s note reads:
Editor’s note: On Wednesday, NBC News compiled a list of every Christmastime visit to active troops by a president since 2001. That list, as detailed in the article below, showed that former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama visited troops on or before Christmas every year since 2003, and President Donald Trump did so in 2017. As of the end of Christmas Day 2018, Trump had not visited troops during the holiday season, and had announced no plans to do so. The article was correct, but on Dec. 26, the situation changed. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, made an unannounced visit to troops in Iraq. As a result, the thrust of this article is no longer correct, even if it was at the time. In the interest of transparency, we are keeping the article on NBCNews.com so that the record will reflect the situation on the day the article was published, and are directing readers to the article about Trump’s Iraq visit here. We are also altering one line in the article, as well as the headline, to be more specific and to note that Trump was the first president since 2002 who didn’t visit military personnel on or before Christmas, rather than at Christmastime.
Hat Tip: Fox News
