CNN Isn’t The Only News Organization That Had To Retract Trump Articles, Vice Did Too

Three journalists resigned from CNN Monday after an investigative story they wrote about President Donald Trump and Russia had to be retracted. Vice, to less fanfare, also retracted two Trump articles on Wednesday.

The articles posted on Vice’s tech vertical, Motherboard, concerned the animatronic version of the president that would be placed in the Disney World attraction “Hall of Presidents.” The article “Here's the Secret Backstage Trump Drama at Walt Disney World's 'Hall of Presidents'” was published on Monday and “Behind the Scenes of Disney's Donald Trump 'Hall of Presidents' Installation” was published May 19.

READ: Why Did 3 Journalists Resign From CNN? Donald Trump's Gleeful Twitter Reaction

The articles using anonymous sourcing claimed there was a debate going on within Disney management about whether animatronic Trump should have a speaking role, as is customary with sitting presidents at the Florida attraction.

BuzzFeed News provided a cached version of the taken down May 19 article.

“Motherboard spoke via email and phone to a source close to Walt Disney Imagineering—the research and development department behind Disney's theme park attractions,” the piece reads. “And according to the source, Donald Trump will be in the attraction, but he will probably not have a speaking role, unlike the three presidents immediately before him. The Imagineers will likely revert the attraction to its pre-1993 format, where the current president does not speak, while keeping the more realistic, grounded tone of the current show.”

The article said some of Trump’s controversial rhetoric and a change.org petition with almost 15,000 supporters was the reason Disney was considering keeping Trump silent.

The reporting caused Disney, who owns a $400 million stake in Vice, to issue a statement Tuesday refuting the articles.

“President Trump will have a speaking role in The Hall of Presidents, like every president since 1993. We have been working closely with the current White House — just as we have with previous administrations — and the president’s recording session has been scheduled. The attraction will re-open in late 2017” the statement by spokesperson Thomas Smith read.

The articles were replaced with an editorial note from Vice Wednesday.

READ: Trump Fake News? The President's Golf Courses Feature A Little Of His Own

“After a thorough investigation into the sourcing of two stories, 'Here's the Secret Backstage Trump Drama at Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents' and 'Behind the Scenes of Disney's Donald Trump 'Hall of Presidents' Installation,' and the identification of several factual errors, we have decided to retract both pieces.” Reads the retraction. “We are conducting a full editorial review to pinpoint how this source was vetted, and how these stories were approved and published in violation of our usual editorial workflow. We fell short of our standards, and regret the error.”

The “Hall of Presidents” opened in Disneyland’s Magic Kingdom Park in 1971. The initial concept was developed by Walt Disney and precursor was presented in 1964 at the New York World’s Fair. It was an audio-animatronic presentation called “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.”​