The Los Angeles Times deleted a tweet about President Donald Trump late Thursday. The tweet cited the president’s announcement uncritically that a vaccine for the coronavirus was coming immediately, which is an unfounded allegation.
“We deleted a previous tweet because it did not meet our editorial standards,” twittere the Times account late Thursday.
The original tweet in question said, ” We deliver life-saving therapies. We will produce a vaccine at the end of the year – or maybe even sooner, ‘said President Trump during his # RNC2020 speech. ”
Also read: ‘Morning Joe’ warns RNC Night 4 could be Coronavirus’ ‘Superspreader’ (video)
The tweet is linked to a Times article about Trump’s address during the fourth night of the Republican National Convention, and said it intended to “re-establish” support for its “flag” re-election campaign.
Other twittere promotion of the same article took a more fact-based approach, describing the scene on the fourth night of the RNC: “Sitting close together in narrow rows of chairs, the audience listens to President Trump’s # RNC2020 speech was mostly unmasked and only slightly greater than the number of Americans who died Wednesday from COVID-19. ”
For deletion, a reader on Twitter sei Trump’s claim was a “lie” and urged the Times to do more fact-checking instead of just repeating Trump’s words. Journalist Ashley Spencer too dinged the paper for quoting the president on a supposed fax timeline “without giving context that it was completely unfounded.”
Read original story LA Times deletes Tweet Quote Trump over COVID fax after reader call at TheWrap
