A cached version of the website suggests that it was just a poll.
- President Donald Trump tweeted a link to his so-called "Highly-Anticipated 2017 Fake News Awards."
- The linked website was not loading for many users.
- A cached version of the website showed that it featured a poll for visitors to select the "winners."
- The independent, nonpartisan Committee to Protect Journalists, responded by listing its "Press Oppressors" awards, naming Trump "the most thin-skinned leader."
- A Washington Post analysis published on January 2 found that Trump made 1,950 false or misleading claims in his first 347 days in office.
President Donald Trump teased a website announcing so-called "fake news winners," but the website, hosted by the Republican National Committee, went offline almost immediately and displayed several different errors.
"And the FAKE NEWS winners are...," Trump tweeted with a link to the website on Wednesday night.
The website displayed the following messages upon loading: "The site is temporarily offline, we are working to bring it back up. Please try back later," and "Don't worry, we're making it great again. Start here."
Trump teased the stunt earlier this month. The right-leaning polling firm, Rusmussen — a favorite of Trump's — found the winner of that "fake news award" would be Fox News, Trump's favorite network.
Links to cached versions of the website were shared on social media Wednesday night. Instead of announcing a pre-determined winner, the cached website appeared to be a poll asking visitors to choose a "winner."
Several news organizations, including National Public Radio, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, and Fox News, were listed.
The Republican National Committee seemed to acknowledge its role in the stunt, saying in a tweet: "Tonight, [the GOP] saw more traffic than ever before. Even though the servers were scaled up, the interest was even greater than anticipated. Traffic is off the charts. Come back soon," the tweet read.
Trump's announcement was met with some chagrin in light of a Washington Post analysis published on January 2 that found the president made 1,950 false or misleading claims in his first 347 days in office.
Journalism organizations like the independent, nonpartisan Committee to Protect Journalists, responded by listing its "Press Oppressors" awards — a list of world leaders who seek to restrict, and in some cases persecute, reporters. The CPJ recognized Trump as "the most thin-skinned" leader and gave him the "Overall Achievement in Undermining Global Press Freedom" award.
The organization listed the US president among dictators like the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was given the award for "Most Outrageous Use of Terror Laws Against the Press". President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt received the same distinction.
Read the Committee to Protect Journalists' entire thread below:
After announcing the "awards," Trump later tweeted in support of what he called "great reporters" and "good news," without listing any examples.