A leading newspaper's error about a North Carolina budget veto override vote last month has caused a stir and reverberations throughout national media.
Washington Post reporter Lateshia Beachum wrote the news story "North Carolina Republicans vote to override budget while Democrats were at 9/11 ceremony" on Sept. 11. The story was picked up by CBS News, GQ, nowthisnews.com, USA Today and others. Beachum, who came to the Post as an intern 2016, joined its general assignment desk in August. North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore (R- Dist. 111), says the report is untrue.
"Any suggestion that Republicans planned the veto override – which is demonstrably false – is an outright lie," Moore wrote in a blow-by-blow account of the events which immediately scandalized the Capitol and nearly lead to the arrest of one lawmaker in the House chamber the next day.
Patrick Gleason, a Forbes columnist and executive with Americans For Tax Reform, called Beachum's story "salacious" and "false."
The Washington Post and GQ both issued corrections. In a Sept. 13 news release, Moore said his office "considers those insufficient."
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