November 30, 2019

It wasn't an "honest mistake"...

As long as I'm on the subject of Newsweek's attitude toward Trump, let me give you this. (Jessica Kwong is the Newsweek reporter who wrote the Trump-trashing Thanksgiving article — "HOW DID TRUMP SPEND THANKSGIVING? TWEETING, GOLFING..." — that needed updating when his trip to Afghanistan came to light.)

128 comments:

Seeing Red said...

Was she the designated snark whiner that day?

She made herself look like a fool.

Michael K said...

Everybody knows this, on either side. The NeverTrumpers who say they will vote for a Democrat are part of this delusion.

I do wonder how many of them have a stake in the issue ? Government employees are an obvious one.

Seeing Red said...

Designated TWITterer.

Lolol

Seeing Red said...

Drive-by tweeterer.

iowan2 said...

The left is just as apt to pounce when their target of hate doesn't do, or communicate something, as for something that actually happens. Pay attention, and realizing the technique of proving POTUS the idiot, by pointing out his lack of action or statement.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Jessica Kwong spent Black Friday treating a vaginal infection. I’ll update that if and when further information surfaces.

n.n said...

Simulated Trump. Hide the bigotry. Hide the decline. The consensus has had a very bad decade.

William said...

She's a woman and a member of a minority. How long before Trump's criticism of her is characterized as being misogynistic and racist.

Ken B said...

It was not an honest mistake. She posted claims that she did not verify, and did it to push an agenda. She claims to be a reporter. Real reporters check things. You can make errors in checking, but she did not check.

MBunge said...

This is something that is actually bigger than Trump and very few on the Left seem to understand it. There's a generation of young media minds being taught that what matters most is whether a story fits "the narrative," not whether it's true or accurate. Some like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi understand that approach to journalism is inevitably going to hurt their side because "the narrative" is always going to be set by the rich and powerful.

Mike

n.n said...

misogynistic and racist.

Allegations of diversity or color judgments is part and parcel of his antagonists daily yarns for more than 12 trimesters. That narrative have proven only marginally and progressively viable. They have, in fact, jumped the ass.

robother said...

A reporter tells us something is happening. It turns out it (golfing and tweeting) never happened at all. How is that an honest mistake?

An honest mistake would have resulted if she had phrased it as a prediction, based on his official schedule, of what he would be doing. But she didn't, because the Narrative requires the immediacy of breaking (albeit fake) news.

Fernandinande said...

How Did Trump Spend Thanksgiving?
By Jessica Kwong On 11/28/19 at 10:16 AM EST

It's not an honest mistake to fake a report on something before it happens.

mccullough said...

Journalism doesn’t pay much. They all hope to get book deals or make it to TV. There aren’t many reporters at these old institutions. So they get a lot of stuff wrong.


The ones on TV are lazy. Talking heads. They also get a lot of stuff wrong. Mostly because they are lazy or stupid.

Junior is right that they get it wrong always in the Orange Man Bad way. Before that they got it wrong (or just were ignorant) in favor of Obama Is Great way.

It’s getting to the point they aren’t even a useful foil.

Wilbur said...

And they wonder why they are hated ...

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

It wasn’t an “honest mistake” you tried to dunk on Trump and ended up dunking on yourself because you couldn’t resist.

So many current writers build long compound sentences where modifying phrases are badly displaced and they could much better be split up into separate parts like Donald Trump Jr.

Jeeze!

daskol said...

Would be funny if Kwong's story were actually sourced--say, a senior and anonymous WH aide leaked that Trump was going to be hanging around the WH watching Shark Week and then playing a round of golf.

Lucien said...

Jessica Kwong was just reporting Her Truth.

Bay Area Guy said...

As for her journalistic career, Jessica is going the Kwong way......

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

She looks hot.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The hack press works for The Party.

Bob Boyd said...

She looks hot.

The photo was doctored.

Ice Nine said...

Is there something particularly wrong with golfing and tweeting on Thanksgiving Day? I'm willing to bet that thousands of people did exactly that.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Newsweek is worth nearly its entire price tag of $1.00.

Jim Gust said...

Shamelessness has reached a whole new level, hasn't it?

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Bob says, without evidence,

The photo was doctored.

Sebastian said...

These aren't honest mistakes because these aren't honest people.

But Jessica, just so we're clear, and just in case your MSM colleagues ever declare our complaints about fake news fake, you acknowledge that you produced fake news, right?

gilbar said...

There's a generation of young media minds being taught that what matters most is whether a story fits "the narrative,"

As Jo Biden so often said; We Choose TRUTH Over Facts
and the Truth (Pravda) is: Whatever fits the narrative

...that approach to journalism is inevitably going to hurt their side because "the narrative" is always going to be set by the rich and powerful.

There's an entire group of Young Leftwing activists, that TRULY Believe that the CIA is on their side

TJM said...

And these corrupt, left-wing loons wonder why their industry is shrinking? The sentient pay no attention to them any longer.

Bob Boyd said...

Bob says, without evidence,

Nope. Google Jessica Kwong images.

wildswan said...

We aren't there yet but the media are trending toward pathetic. When reporters completely evolve into tweeters being played by Trump and Titania McGrath and everyone joins in the sport and the third grade at St. John Chrysostom plays NBC {Third Grade Writes a Woke Action Song: Students pretend to be napping on floor, teacher claps her hands and everyone jumps up, singing: "Woke little bunnies, Woke, Woke, Woke] ... well, the good days are coming.

tim maguire said...

Obviously, the story was written ahead of time and run without checking to see if it was true.

Jr. is right—it was not an honest mistake, it was a smear.

rehajm said...

Yes, honest mistake my ass. No doubt she feels honest due to the frequency her and her ilk do this.

Yancey Ward said...

Fernandistein pointed out the one detail about Kwong's tweet that mattered- the time stamp when it was posted:

11/28/19 at 10:16 AM EST

I defy anyone to defend Kwong's tweet as an honest mistake. An honest person would have waited until the next day to post a tweet since such a person would have had a chance to find out what Trump actually did on Thanksgiving day.

WK said...

Seeing reports on Twitter that Kwong was fired by Newsweek....

Iman said...

C’mon, Newspeak... No Malarkey!

Seeing Red said...

Not tired of winning! Bwaaaaaa

traditionalguy said...

You have to get up pretty early in the morning to smear a stable genius. Point, set, match Trump.

chickelit said...

Typical Newsweek reporter.

Iman said...

But don’t get the Kwong idea... she beclowned herself.

Quayle said...

In journalism management, you have only four dials you can set:

1. The piece is well researched, factual, and well cited and documented
2. The piece meets tomorrow’s or a set near deadline
3. The cost to produce the piece is low.
4. The piece is well received and consumed by the public, such that it engenders return customers to the media outlet.

You can pick only two to be set high and maybe play with the third to try to push it up a bit. But you can’t get them all high.


The internet has caused a loss of advertising profitability so dial 3 must usually be set high by default. Less and less choice there, now days. That leaves you one and a half more dials that can be set high. If you chose to set dial 4 high, you get missed deadlines and poor validated accuracy. Same if you chose to set dial 2 high, which was what Newsweek did. They went “low cost” and “by thanksgiving morning deadline”, they probably pushed dials 4 so that they would to push for customer acceptance, which means that they by default we’re willing to live with absolutely crap validated accuracy.

wild chicken said...

Speaking of weeklies, I saw a dead tree Time issue at the supermarket and if had a red cover saying IMPEACHMENT with subhed *America On Trial*.

Essentially, it's a Test!! of whether We as Americans are a Serious People or just a flock of assclown sheeple.

Such pressure! my head asploded.

Ann Althouse said...

"Designated TWITterer"/"Drive-by tweeterer."

It wasn't just a tweet. It was a pretty long article in Newsweek, full of background about past Thanksgivings and so forth. The tweet you see is just PUSHING the article. Don't underestimate what she and Newsweek did.

Bob Boyd said...

WK is right:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/newsweek-fires-reporter-who-published-inaccurate-story-on-trumps-thanksgiving-day-plans

Seeing Red said...

Oooohhh. Oooopppppssss!

Layers of fact checkers!

They should fire up the chain, too. Someone might have had to approve that dumpster fire.

donald said...

That’s funny right there.

Lucien said...

WaPo, NYT, CNN, MSNBC, Vox: where will Jessica Kwong's next job be?

J. Farmer said...

I didn't know Newsweek was still a thing. Ignoring their lazy, boring journalism, it's a good opportunity to jump on an old hobby horse of mine: the head of government and head of state should not be the same person.

donald said...

She might be hot in Yankeeville, but around these parts, serious meh.

Jersey Fled said...

She will be working at CNN by Monday.

Bob Boyd said...

She'll have more time for golfing and tweeting.

Iman said...

Two Kwongs will never get it right.

Maillard Reactionary said...

"...It wasn’t an “honest mistake..." Well, yeah, I agree with that. What a hack, but at least she checks the female and minority boxes (= a "twofer").

Binks @11:27 AM: I won't ask you you know this. I'm just glad there are those who are willing to do some of those things that I won't.

Hammond X.: Run-on sentences are fine and are often the best way to get your point across, because the reader, once committed, may have to read quite a ways to get to the verb and understand your point, and by then he's read the whole thing and also since we know it's especially effective if you can end it with a preposition, which I think is a great thing to end a sentence with.

J Melcher said...

If there is a bias to the narrative patterns, then we should be able to recall "honest mistakes" of the coverage in the Obama era -- stories that "broke" in favor of the White House and had to be "corrected" later with more detail that seemingly threw shade on the leadership.

Like, maybe, a murderous riot in Libya being attributed to a YouTube video?

Wince said...

Kwong's name essentially becomes a cartoon onomatopoeia, blending the sound of a gong and announcement of her being wrong.

Narayanan said...

Speaking as LAWYER (I'm playing one now on this blog run by law professor):

"AND MORE" -- With these Two words Kwong has sufficient CYA

I'd advise her to sue for wrongful etc.

Original Mike said...

"Don't underestimate what she and Newsweek did."

Don't imagine the left thinks they did wrong.

Temujin said...

Newsweek is still around? And they fired this woman because she got this information wrong, did not have the facts, but created a story anyway?

I guess those who wrote about the Russia/Mueller hoax, the Blassey-Ford Show, and the current Impeach Now! series will get fired next for the same thing?

gilbar said...

of course, y'all Do Realize that the Golfing and Tweeting were Intentional covers for the Presidents trip.

They moved one of the VC-25's (the 747's used as Air Force One) to Key Largo (or whatever Trump's Golf course is called). They had staffers sending out pseudo Trump Tweets. They loaded President Trump onto another VC-25 INSIDE a hanger at Andrews AFB (instead of Outside, under floodlights; as usual).

The WHOLE WORLD was SUPPOSED TO think that President Trump was spending the day Golfing, and Tweeting. IF Newsweek wasn't full of Shit; they'd be crowing (and patting themselves on the back) about how They'd HELPED THE PRESIDENT with his secret trip.

But, needless to say; Newsweek COULDN'T DO THAT

Tomcc said...

What does one do after being fired from Newsweek? Write children's books?

Big Mike said...

In the 21st century the words “honest” and “journalist” do not belong in the same sentence. On the other hand “journalist” and “mistake” certainly do go together very aptly.

Iman said...

Well you're dirty and sweet
Lookin’ flash, writin’ trash and I love you
You're dirty and sweet, oh yeah
Well you write for Newsweak
You've got the Democrat peeps behind you
You're dirty sweet and you're my clown
Get it on, bang a Kwong, get it on
Get it on, bang a Kwong, get it on

rehajm said...

What does one do after being fired from Newsweek? Write children's books?

Young adult.

Maillard Reactionary said...

"Kwong" also sounds like the sound of a cartoon character's head when it gets hit with a boxing glove on the end of a spring.

Big Mike said...

Newsweek is setting itself up for tomorrow’s headline: “Trump family, Republicans pounce on honest mistake.”

Iman said...

If loving truth is right, I don’t wanna be Kwong...

Bob Boyd said...

It seems kind of unfair to fire Kwong for doing what the rest of the media does all day every day.
She had every reason to believe, at the time, that Trump was going to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. Somebody at the WH probably told her that and probably believed it themselves. Kwong then went out of her way to put a negative spin on that information. Newsweek published her piece without blinking. Clearly it was what they expected and wanted her to produce.

Iman said...

I was in da right place
But it musta been the Kwong time...

n.n said...

Trump Tweets, while the world warms.

The tweet you see is just PUSHING the article. Don't underestimate what she and Newsweek did

Good advice. A Tweet is analogous to a headline. We can infer the body, and miss the content, and morsels of facts, perhaps, interspersed, as well as mechanisms (e.g. close associations, nuance) that reveal and propagate bias. The traditional rules of multiple, independent sources are applicable.

This story has been substantially updated and edited at 6:17 pm EST to reflect the president's surprise trip to Afghanistan. Additional reporting by James Crowley.

No amendments. No apology. A grade school rewrite, at best, explains why it sounds like a "what I did over summer break" story.

narciso said...

heh, yes Christine ford, is still kosher, at time magazine, where she writes about chanel miller, some #metoo chick, we're lead to believe,

tim maguire said...

Well, she did say, “and more.”

Fernandinande said...

Newsweek is worth nearly its entire price tag of $1.00.

It would be cool to buy two Newsweeks for $2 and make them fight in a pit because neither one could win.

Iman said...

Kara Ta ni, Kwong. O Taro Vey, Rama Kwong.
Wa saba ani mako, O Taro Vey, Rama Kwong.

Iman said...

In an ideal and just world, Kwong would be teh Bride of Kong...

hawkeyedjb said...

Jee-zus. How bad do you have to be to get fired from Newsweek? You're already working at a Democratic party propaganda sheet, written by teenagers for teenagers. Did the Party line change and she missed it somehow?

Iman said...

Or she could marry, then divorce a certain Rolling Stone writer and rebound with the big ape and be Michelle Kwong-Fong-Torres-Kong.

Jim at said...

As stated, funny how all these 'mistakes' end up slanted in one direction.

FullMoon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GingerBeer said...

Newsweek’s Jessica Kwong has been fired.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/newsweek-fires-reporter-who-published-inaccurate-story-on-trumps-thanksgiving-day-plans

Bay Area Guy said...

There is sublime beauty in watching the pitiful descent of Newsweek, along with the humiliation of its hack journos like Kwong. Indeed, they stopped practicing journalism long ago. To be precise, though, they elevated their own Leftwing political aims over their journalistic standards. Sorry, not sorry.

Bay Area Guy said...

And, @GingerBeer administers the coup de grace. So long, Kwong. Suggest you sue them for racial discrimination.....

Big Mike said...

Kwong has been fired, but what about her editor?

FullMoon said...

gilbar said..
The WHOLE WORLD was SUPPOSED TO think that President Trump was spending the day Golfing, and Tweeting. IF Newsweek wasn't full of Shit; they'd be crowing (and patting themselves on the back) about how They'd HELPED THE PRESIDENT with his secret trip.

Perfect.SHE could have spun it as having inside info and keeping it secret at Trump's personal request.

Comanche Voter said...

Well Bay Area Guy we do remember that Newsweek was sold a couple of years back for $1---and the buyer overpaid.

As for Ms. Kwong---Silly Twit embarrassed by Stupid Tweet. End of story--and in a just world end of career. But forget it Jake. It's Newsweek.

Gahrie said...

As for Ms. Kwong---Silly Twit embarrassed by Stupid Tweet. End of story--and in a just world end of career.

Perhaps. She was fired.

The Vault Dweller said...

I actually do suspect that this was a mistake. She probably had the story done or mostly done ahead of time. She probably produced it by looking at the president's published schedule. And then just published it without checking it out one last time before she published it. The reason all these stories seem to break against Trump's favor instead of for it, is probably just inherent bias. I suspect that most journalists only recheck things, that feel wrong or off to them. Almost all mainstream media are lefties and probably most of them believe that the right is made up of a bunch of evil, racist, sexist homophobes and Trump is the worst of them. If you come from that emotional valence point, stories that buttress that belief will feel like they are right, but stories that contradict that belief will feel wrong or off. This probably leads to stories that are in favor of Trump getting a second or third or even fourth check because it feels wrong to the journalist which is probably enough rechecks to weed out the pro-trump stories that actually don't pan out. But the ones that reinforce the belief that Trump is a bad, bad man, well they just feel right so get no second look-over.

PackerBronco said...

When you learn to code you will also learn that "honest mistakes" don't count for much.

FullMoon said...

I actually do suspect that this was a mistake. She probably had the story done or mostly done ahead of time. She probably produced it by looking at the president's published schedule. And then just published it without checking it out one last time before she published it.

Imagine how many journalists had the same info and were lucky enough not to publish it.

stevew said...

"I actually do suspect that this was a mistake. She probably had the story done or mostly done ahead of time. She probably produced it by looking at the president's published schedule. And then just published it without checking it out one last time before she published it."

Quite likely but I wouldn't categorize it as a mistake. Sloppy and unprofessional are more apt if it played out as you suspect.

DavidD said...

She could’ve said that she was expecting that he might go visit the troops so she made a purposely misdirecting post to keep from raising suspicions....

Nah. Nobody would’ve believed it.

Mary Beth said...

I suspect her firing was for more than just not updating her article. I could speculate and make up stuff as to why I think she was fired, but I'm not a journalist, so I'll stick to what I know.

Birkel said...

Don Jr tells the truth.
That is a revolutionary act.

Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Inga said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Inga said...

It must’ve just been an honest mistake when Trump accused Obama of not being a US citizen. He even said he had his investigators that had all the facts. Trump doesn’t have any moral authority when it comes to accusing others of trying to smear him considering that’s his modus operandi. Ask him about the old man Cruz being involved in the Kennedy assassination. Just another honest mistake, eh?

Howard said...

This is a travesty of cancel culture. Her tweet says "and more", which covers the trip to A-Stan.

Paul Mac said...

Kwong has been axed, she'll have to learn to do something other than code. However the editors who assigned the piece & botched updating it. No sign they'll be held accountable. A shame.

RMc said...

I defy anyone to defend Kwong's tweet as an honest mistake.

Mistake yes, honest no.

gilbar said...

Trump accused Obama of not being a US citizen
link please

narciso said...

he was relying on obamas own walter mittyesque memoir, written by bill ayers,

Crazy World said...

Obama said Trump would never be President, impeach!

tim in vermont said...

Yes. That squirrel proves that the press has no bias against Trump.

h said...

I posted this to another thread by mistake, but as Trump and commenter Jim at and I'm sure others have noted, this "mistake" cannot be judged in isolation. Can anyone find a journalistic mistake (corrected story) that was a mistake in Trump's favor?

bagoh20 said...

OK, OK, so it was a dishonest mistake. Same thing, kinda.

bagoh20 said...

"She probably had the story done or mostly done ahead of time. She probably produced it by looking at the president's published schedule."

Possible, but if that's what happened, I think Newsweek would say so, and publish that decoy info.

I'm surprised the story wasn't how Trump was out buffalo hunting on an Indian reservation.

bagoh20 said...

Imagine if the media did get as many stories wrong in Trumps favor as against him. There wouldn't be any space left for the truth at all unless we went to the 48 hour day.

tim in vermont said...

Can anyone find a journalistic mistake (corrected story) that was a mistake in Trump's favor?

Easy. The press is right now in the process of memory holing all of the stories about Ukraine interference in 2016 elections. Of course that doesn’t make any difference, because Trump’s state of mind at the time included before they decided to repudiate, without justifying evidence, all of these well sourced stories.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"... full of background about past Thanksgivings and so forth."

I remember WI before Donna Shalala, of all people.

She brought to the great unhearalded bedderment, the Great Barry Alvarez.

His wins speak even today.

chickelit said...

tim maguire said...Well, she did say, “and more.”

But did she? Was "and more" in the original, now-deleted tweet?

FullMoon said...

"Inga said..."
(stuff)

C'mon, man, piss poor imitation of the genuine Inger.
Nothing this week about baking pies, family get togethers or Navy relatives who hate Trump.

And only one or two short comments per episode with no rebuttals? Not blodoy likely. Up your game..

chickelit said...

If you simply look at Kwong's tweet stream, it's obvious that she has borne a grudge against Trump for some time. Perhaps the editors of Newsweak simply looked at her tweet stream and decided "hey, we don't want you to publish such partisan drivel in our name." I know, unlikely, but possible.

Clyde said...

Ms. Kwong has been defenestrated. Womp, womp!

Automatic_Wing said...

Rather amusing that she got fired over this. Are we supposed to believe that any other Newsweek journolist wouldn't have done the same in her place?

Comanche Voter said...

In the "rest of the story" Ms. Kwong claims that it was her editor's fault. If not for that old meany with the red pencil, she would not have made this "honest" mistake.

Newsweek did not go far enough in cleaning out the festering corruption on their staff.

chickelit said...

J. Farmer said...I didn't know Newsweek was still a thing. Ignoring their lazy, boring journalism, it's a good opportunity to jump on an old hobby horse of mine: the head of government and head of state should not be the same person.

Americans don't want either one to be titular.

Narayanan said...

the head of government and head of state should not be the same person.
____&&&----
As USA is not a State - there cannot be HeadOfState.

To be Statists is to want it otherwise.

Chris of Rights said...

When you post a made up story and then have to correct it when the truth is revealed, that's not an "honest mistake". In fact, I think most of us would call that #FakeNews.

n.n said...

Obama said Trump would never be President, impeach!

To paraphrase Obama: if you like your president, you can keep your president. After 12 trimesters, you would think that even progressive liberals of the Chamber would have deemed him viable. The Obamacity!

J. Farmer said...

@Narayanan:

As USA is not a State - there cannot be HeadOfState.

To be Statists is to want it otherwise.


Barring semantics, it is quite common in a presidential system for the president to be the head of state and the head of government. I think this is one of the flaws of the presidential system. A head of state, should be a primarily ceremonial position that is outside of politics and thus can represent the nation in as apolitical a manner as possible (granted it's not really possible to be totally apolitical).

J. Farmer said...

@chickelit:

Americans don't want either one to be titular.

Being titular is kind of the point of a head of state.

gilbar said...

J Farmer said... . A head of state, should be a primarily ceremonial position that is outside of politics and thus can represent the nation in as apolitical a manner as possible (granted it's not really possible to be totally apolitical).

That's What the Vice President is (USED TO BE) FOR.
According to the instruction book; the ONLY political use for a Vice President is tie breaker
Tie breaker in a house where you need 60% approval to come to a vote.

The Vice Presidents REAL JOB, was going to state funerals, and such: that is; head of state stuff

chickelit said...

Set and spike!

J. Farmer said...

@gilbar:

That's What the Vice President is (USED TO BE) FOR.
According to the instruction book; the ONLY political use for a Vice President is tie breaker
Tie breaker in a house where you need 60% approval to come to a vote.

The Vice Presidents REAL JOB, was going to state funerals, and such: that is; head of state stuff


I don't think there's any evidence that this is what the Vice President supposed to do, even if it is what he ended up mostly doing. But it does not solve the fundamental problem of electing a head of state, which virtually guarantees that it will be a decisive figure. Of course, there are still practical problems to how to choose a head of state if not through electoral politics, but there are possible solutions: requiring supermajorities to choose a head of state who stands for a single, long term would be a possible arrangement.

cfs said...

She phoned it in. Wrote the report on Monday, included all the usual criticisms of Trump, and said "good to go". How in the hell was she was supposed to know he might do something different than the narrative she and the other drive media had decided upon?

rcocean said...

Why are we still talking about Newsweek or Time?

When's the last time anyone read a weekly news magazine.

Bunkypotatohead said...

Cut her some slack. It was merely an article in Newsweek. Not something to be taken seriously, such as a presidential tweet with a "doctored" photo.

wendybar said...

The so called "Journalist" broke the first rule of journalism. The TDS is so strong, the supposed Journalist didn't care!!

Gabriel Hanna said...

More than one comment here has mentioned it, but I think it's really the key point so I call it out:

The Thanksgiving story was written a week in advance, based on assumptions about the President's schedule.

How much other "news" is written in advance, based on assumptions?

How often does it happen that other facts, "alternative facts" if you will, emerge prior to publication that destroy the basis of a story? In this case, they got caught because of how public and startling it was what actually happened, and everyone knew the story was false. How often is it happening that their stories are false, but that the real events weren't news?