President Donald Trump, known to prefer reading printed newspapers, likely based his Twitter complaint on the edition of the Times delivered Friday morning in Washington. | Getty Discrepancy in NYT editions prompts Trump rebuke

A discrepancy between versions of a New York Times story published in the print edition of the newspaper and on its website prompted President Donald Trump to once again lash out at one of his favorite media targets.

“The failing @nytimes does major FAKE NEWS China story saying ‘Mr.Xi has not spoken to Mr. Trump since Nov.14.’ We spoke at length yesterday!” Trump wrote Friday morning, an apparent complaint about a Times story regarding his relationship with his Chinese counterpart.


Trump had previously suggested during his transition period that he might not respect the “one China” policy that officially recognizes the Chinese government in Beijing over the one in Taiwan. Trump’s telephone conversation with the president of Taiwan rankled Beijing, as did his remark during a December interview that “I don't know why we have to be bound by a One China policy.”

Trump, known to prefer reading printed newspapers, likely based his Twitter complaint on the edition of the Times delivered Friday morning in Washington, which read that Chinese President Xi Jinping had not spoken to Trump since Nov. 14 because he was upset with the U.S. president’s rebuke of the “one China” policy. In Washington, the story was headlined “China’s president, stung by Taiwan call, is said to shun Trump.”

A later edition of Friday’s New York Times, as well as the online version, details a Thursday night conversation between Trump and Xi in which the U.S. president agreed that he would honor the longstanding “one China” policy that officially recognizes the Chinese government in Beijing, not the one in Taiwan.

The later edition of the newspaper also carried a new headline, “After silence from Xi, Trump endorses the ‘one China’ policy.” Online, the story was headlined “Trump tells Xi Jinping U.S. will honor ‘one China’ policy.”

Eileen Murphy, a Times spokeswoman, explained that the discrepancy stemmed from a combination of print deadlines and weather. The original version of the story was published just after 9 p.m. Thursday and was updated at 11:35 p.m., shortly after the White House emailed out a readout of Trump’s call with Xi.

The first national edition of the Times, the version delivered in Washington, went to print before the story was updated and a second national edition was not printed because of a snow storm that hit the East Coast on Thursday, Murphy said. The city editions, which are delivered in New York, contained the updated story.

The White House readout of the “lengthy telephone conversation” said the conversation between Trump and Xi was “extremely cordial” and that Trump “agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our "one China" policy.”

The White House readout of the “lengthy telephone conversation” was emailed after 11 p.m. Thursday night. The readout said the conversation between Trump and Xi was “extremely cordial.”

Mark Landler, one of the Times reporters who authored the story in question, defended it on Twitter against Trump’s criticism. Linking to the president’s Twitter post, Landler wrote that “we reported accurately that Xi wouldn't talk to POTUS without One China pledge. Updated story when he did just that.”

The Times did not append a note or clarification to the online version of its story explaining the developments that led to the discrepancy.