By Brian Flood | Fox News
The Washington Post was blasted on social media after it jumped the gun with an inaccurate tweet Friday claiming the May U.S. unemployment rate was close to 20 percent, moments after the actual report indicated the rate unexpectedly had dropped to 13.3 percent.
“Grim milestone to be reached as May unemployment rate nears 20 percent,” the Post wrote in a now-deleted tweet to accompany a now-edited story with the same inaccurate headline.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS TO 13.3% IN MAY, SIGNALING RETURN OF US JOBS
May’s 13.3 is significantly down from a record high in April, indicating the nation’s economy is recovering faster than expected from the coronavirus lockdown – but it appears that Jeff Bezos’ Post had assumed the worst.
The Labor Department said in its report that employers added 2.5 million jobs in May — the biggest increase on record. The post’s second try to promote the story featured a tweet that said “U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly declined to 13.3 percent in May amid pandemic” but the visible preview of the story still said ““Grim milestone to be reached as May unemployment rate nears 20 percent.”
The Washington Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The gaffe was quickly mocked on Twitter:
Great work, guys.
I don’t know. I do know the Washington Post should probably not pre-write and then publish their scheduled tweets if they don’t want to get hit as “fake news”. https://twitter.com/zankfrappa2/status/1268903735759159296 …
ZankFrappa@ZankFrappa2Replying to @redsteeze
You think it’ll be 8% in July and 4% in August don’t you?
Two tweets by @washingtonpost, one minute apart:
The Washington Post pre-wrote a doom and gloom story on the economy that turned out to be false.
Instead of reaching a “grim milestone,” the economy under @realDonaldTrump ADDED 2.5M jobs instead of the predicted loss of 7.5M in May.
WAPO didn’t think that would occur.
SAD. https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1268902077025173506 …
The Washington Post✔@washingtonpost
Unemployment rate drops to 13 percent, as the economy picked up jobs as states reopened https://wapo.st/30aS3Pe
OwnTheLibs@OwnTheLibs_Replying to @washingtonpost
Um @Twitter @jack can we please get a fact check over here
Jessica Fletcher✔@heckyessicaReplying to @washingtonpost
We know this is what you wanted, but it’s not true.
Remember when you deleted this tweet this morning? Good times https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1268902077025173506 …
The Washington Post✔@washingtonpost
Unemployment rate drops to 13 percent, as the economy picked up jobs as states reopened https://wapo.st/30aS3Pe 54
TJWFW@icouldbeahackerReplying to @washingtonpost
So…like is this a retraction?
It looks like you had a different take that you just couldn’t wait to broadcast.
BunneryBaker@BunneryBakeryReplying to @LauraHennesse11 @washingtonpost
It was anticipated to be 20% by the fake news propaganda machines. This is a great start for it being only June, the economy will be roaring well before election day at this rate. Great news for @realDonaldTrump
Fox Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.Brian Flood covers the media for Fox News.
