The New York Times on Wednesday added a major correction to a story published a day earlier that claimed President Donald Trump could suppress a climate change report, undermining the article's entire premise.
"Scientists Fear Trump Will Dismiss Blunt Climate Report," read the headline of the Times story. The Times reported that scientists leaked them a copy of the report, "which has not yet been made public," because they were "concerned that it would be suppressed."
But in a correction added later, the Times admitted that the report they were concerned was going to be suppressed had already been made publicly available.
In reality, the "suppressed" report went through a public comment period for nearly three months during which anyone on earth could read it. The Internet Archive still maintains a copy in its public domain database available today.
"An article on Tuesday about a sweeping federal climate change report referred incorrectly to the availability of the report," the Times' correction reads. "While it was not widely publicized, the report was uploaded by the nonprofit Internet Archive in January; it was not first made public by the New York Times."
Despite the correction, the Times piece still contains language worrying that "the Trump administration could change or suppress the report."
The Associated Press reports that despite the concerned Times piece, four of the co-authors of the report say they have seen no effort from the Trump administration to block it.
"It was under the radar and we were fine about that," one author said.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders slammed the Times piece in a statement.
"As others have pointed out—and the New York Times should have noticed—drafts of this report have been published and made widely available online months ago during the public comment period," she said. "The White House will withhold comment on any draft report before its scheduled release date."