NYT Lies About Trump Crowd Size, Then Admits Crowd Was 550% Bigger Than It Said
President Donald Trump held a campaign rally on Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee, in support of Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running to fill the Senate seat soon to be vacated by outgoing Sen. Bob Corker.
The raucous rally was no different than the typical Trump rally, as supporters lined up for hours ahead of time to get into the arena and organizers packed as many rally-goers in as they could.
Thus, it was a bit of a surprise to see an article from The New York Times by a reporter who was at the rally initially assert that a mere 1,000 people had showed up for the event.
“The Failing and Corrupt @nytimes estimated the crowd last night at ‘1000 people,’ when in fact it was many times that number – and the arena was rockin’,” tweeted Trump on Wednesday in response.
The Failing and Corrupt @nytimes estimated the crowd last night at “1000 people,” when in fact it was many times that number – and the arena was rockin’. This is the way they demean and disparage. They are very dishonest people who don’t “get” me, and never did!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2018
“This is the way they demean and disparage. They are very dishonest people who don’t ‘get’ me, and never did!” he added.
According to The Daily Caller, that tweet from Trump calling out The Times appears to have caught the paper’s attention, as it quickly corrected the rather blatant mistake and reporter Julie Davis admitted her mistake in a sort of non-apology.
President @realDonaldTrump is correct about his crowd last night. My estimate was way off, and we have corrected our story to reflect the fire marshal’s estimate of 5,500 people. When we get it wrong, we say so. https://t.co/AX2JkAMyh4 https://t.co/2LbfmkiSti
— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) May 30, 2018
“President @realDonaldTrump is correct about his crowd last night. My estimate was way off, and we have corrected our story to reflect the fire marshal’s estimate of 5,500 people. When we get it wrong, we say so,” she tweeted.
A correction was made in the body of the article and added to the bottom of the story, which read: “An earlier version of this article cited an incorrect figure for the number of people attending President Trump’s rally. While no exact figure is available, the fire marshal’s office estimated that approximately 5,500 people attended the rally, not about 1,000 people.”
That estimated figure of 5,500 is more than five times larger than Davis’ original estimate, which placed the size of the crowd at only about 18 percent of what it actually was. In other words, absolutely blatant “fake news.”
Ironically, criticism about “fake news” was quite obviously on Davis’ mind the night of the rally, judging by a tweet she posted Tuesday evening about a young boy who had mockingly called the gathered journalists as much during the event.
Depressing sight at Trump rally in Nashville: adorable young boy, probly about my son's age, pointing iPhone at me & other reporters & snapping pix while screaming "FAKE NEWS!" A child who will grow up believing a free & fair press is the enemy, a bad thing, to be mocked & hated
— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) May 30, 2018
“Depressing sight at Trump rally in Nashville: adorable young boy, probly about my son’s age, pointing iPhone at me & other reporters & snapping pix while screaming “FAKE NEWS!” A child who will grow up believing a free & fair press is the enemy, a bad thing, to be mocked & hated,” Davis tweeted Tuesday.
Except, the boy wasn’t criticizing a “free and fair press,” but incredibly biased “journalists” who lie about anything in regard to President Trump, such as the size of the crowds at his rallies.
Davis can whine and complain about the criticism she and her cohorts received as being “fake news,” but when she proceeds to write and publish actual “fake news” the very next day, she pretty much just proved the boy’s point.
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