Complaint
This article reported a speech by Donald Trump in which he explained his intention to vote against an abortion-related amendment to the constitution of the State of Florida and included the sentence 鈥He then falsely alleged that Democrats in the US supported allowing abortions at any point during a pregnancy, which he used as his explanation for deciding to vote against the ballot measure in Florida as a voter in the state鈥.聽 A reader complained that this was misleading, because the allegation attributed to Mr Trump was in fact true.聽 The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 大象传媒鈥檚 editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The editorial team responsible for the article explained to the ECU that it was intended to reflect what the relevant portion of Mr Trump鈥檚 speech almost certainly meant 鈥 that the Democrats favoured elective abortions at any point during pregnancy.聽 The ECU accepted that, in the context of the US electoral debate over abortion and reproductive rights, this may well have been Mr Trump鈥檚 intended meaning (which does not reflect anything that can properly be termed Democrat policy).聽 However, as the article鈥檚 paraphrase of Mr Trump contained no such qualification, and as Democrat policy appears to have encompassed abortions at any point in a pregnancy when its continuation would endanger the life or health of the woman, it was incorrect to say the claim as set out in the article was false.
Upheld
Further action
The finding was reported to the management of 大象传媒 News and discussed with the editorial team responsible.