Buttigieg, Betogieg ... what's the difference? Reuters fumbles campaign photo on Twitter

News agency appears to fumble two facts in 14-word tweet

Published: March 3, 2020 9:15am

Updated: March 3, 2020 4:36pm

Now and then, every news organization, even the most professional, gets a fact wrong.

But it’s not easy to flub two basic, easily checkable facts within the space of 14 words.

Reuters appeared to do just that on Twitter with a photo about Joe Biden securing support from former rivals in the Democratic race. "In Texas chicken joint, Biden and one-time rival Buttigieg unite to stop Sanders," the news agency tweeted.

First, the setting in the tweeted photo is not a chicken joint. It’s a burger joint, Whataburger, as indicated by the clearly visible logo on the cups.

Second and more importantly, the onetime Biden rival on the left of the photo is not former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who on Sunday withdrew from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

It is long-since departed Texan Beto O’Rourke, a congressman and onetime progressive poster boy who lost his bid for a Texas senate seat to Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, before starting a Democratic presidential campaign, which ended last year before the first votes were even cast in the Iowa caucuses.

Reuters was able to correctly identify Texas as the state in which the political tete a tete took place.

A few hours after the tweet, Reuters issued this correction: "PICTURE CORRECTION: Biden and onetime rival Buttigieg unite to stop Sanders. (A previous tweet for this story used an incorrect picture. We are deleting the earlier tweet)"

“A tweet published earlier today incorrectly included an image of Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke, rather than Biden and Pete Buttigieg," a Reuters spokesperson wrote in a statement emailed to Just the News. "We immediately corrected the mistake and regret the error.”

 

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