A longstanding media maxim, “get it first, but first get it right,” fell by the wayside Friday after the Daily Beast reported former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney would launch a third White House bid, a claim proved false thereafter when the 2012 Republican nominee announced he would not run again.
In a brief byline-less report, “Exclusive: Romney Running for President,” the Daily Beast said Romney would tell top donors in a Friday conference call “an update” on his plans for 2016.
“Sources have told The Daily Beast that the former Massachusetts governor will announce his intention to explore a third run for the White House,” the now-amended report read. “Romney and his senior aides believe his is the best placed candidate to defeat Hillary Clinton.”
But this did not happen.
Conservative radio host and weekly Washington Examiner columnist Hugh Hewitt was the first with the text of Romney’s prepared remarks, which state very clearly that the former governor had elected not to launch a third White House bid.
“After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I’ve decided it is best to give other leaders in the Party the opportunity to become our next nominee,” the remarks read, which were echoed moments later in a conference call Romney held with aides and reporters Friday morning.
The Daily Beast quickly acknowledged its mistake, saying in a tweet: “We got it wrong. Mitt Romney is not running for President.”
Daily Beast editor John Avalon in a comment to Politico claimed they had “multiple sources strongly indicating Romney was running.” None of those sources were cited by name.
“We got it wrong,” Avalon said. “As it turned out, only a handful of peope [sic] knew the truth. Lesson learned.”
This is hardly the first time that a news group has reported on a political event that turned out to be entirely false, with one of the more notable examples being the New York Post, reporting in 2004 that former Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., had been chosen to run as Sen. John Kerry’s, D-Mass., running mate.
The Daily Beast did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
