US President Donald Trump demanded an apology from a reporter and asked the company to fire him after he tweeted a "phoney photo".
Trump on Saturday slammed The Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel over a tweet in which he incorrectly called into question Trump's claim about the crowd size at his Friday night rally in Florida.
According to a report on nymag.com, Weigel posted an image showing Trump's Pensacola rally venue mostly empty, with a message quoting Trump's later assertion that the arena was "packed to the rafters".
The photo that was shared was taken before all the rallygoers or the President had arrived. The venue was later filled with people.
Weigel quickly deleted the tweet after another journalist pointed out his error.
Later in the day, Trump accused Weigel and the news organisation of willingly using a "phony photo" and spreading fake news.
"DaveWeigel WashingtonPost put out a phoney photo of an empty arena hours before I arrived @ the venue, w/ thousands of people outside, on their way in. Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology and retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo!," Trump tweeted.
Weigel responded in three minutes and apologised for his mistake.
"Sure thing: I apologise. I deleted the photo after @dmartosko told me I'd gotten it wrong. Was confused by the image of you walking in the bottom right corner," the reporter tweeted.
"It was a bad tweet on my personal account, not a story for Washington Post," he added.
Soon after the apology, Trump said Weigel should be fired.
"daveweigel of the Washington Post just admitted that his picture was a FAKE (fraud?) showing an almost empty arena last night for my speech in Pensacola when, in fact, he knew the arena was packed (as shown also on TV). FAKE NEWS, he should be fired."
--IANS
sku/ksk/mr
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