(Credit: Breitbart.com)
Breitbart fell for a fake Twitter account for Pres. Donald Trump in reporting on the deaths of U.S. soldiers. The Oct. 5 article is headlined, “Three Green Berets Killed, Two Wounded in Niger Ambush” and reported on an attack in a U.S.-Nigerian patrol by the Nigerian-Mali border which killed three American Green Berets. The article quoted the parody tweet and claimed Trump had tweeted condolences to the families of the U.S. soldiers, but Trump hadn’t.
The Breitbart article included a quote from @MatureTrumpTwts, a parody account for Trump that identifies itself as an “alternative parody account of how a mature, more presidential Trump should tweet,” which tweeted, “Saddened by the loss of our three U.S. Green Beret soldiers in Niger. Our thoughts are with the families during this very difficult time.” The parody Twitter account includes a Photoshopped picture of Trump. CNN’s Jake Tapper spotted the error and tweeted about it.
After Tapper’s tweets, the Breitbart article carries the following correction:
“Correction: the original version of this story included a citation of condolences from President Trump on Twitter that was not, in fact, from the president’s authentic Twitter account. The citation has been removed. Apologies for the error.”
In a tweet, John Hayward, the author of the Breitbart article, wrote, “Entirely my fault. I have removed the inaccurate quotation and added a correction and apology.” iMediaEthics has tweeted Hayward to ask how the error occurred.
Saddened by the loss of our three U.S. Green Beret soldiers in Niger. Our thoughts are with the families during this very difficult time. https://t.co/4dUFwpP8qu
— PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) October 5, 2017
Entirely my fault. I have removed the inaccurate quotation and added a correction and apology. https://t.co/3mPrpSAdqJ
— John Hayward (@Doc_0) October 6, 2017
BREAKING: Breitbart attributed my tweet (last paragragh) re: troop deaths to Trump. Maybe they wish he'd use the medium as I do? #FakeNews? https://t.co/gv0vP473vc
— PresidentialTrump (@MatureTrumpTwts) October 6, 2017
