Overview

• WUSA9 first reported a drop of more than 25% in D.C. restaurant reservations, then updated its story to show a roughly 29% year-over-year jump on the opening day of Summer Restaurant Week while noting a weeklong average decline of about 24%.
• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt castigated New York Times reporter Peter Baker for sharing the initial story and labeled him a partisan actor after he left his original post online.
• Baker said he also shared the updated WUSA9 piece and told the New York Post he would leave the outlet to explain its revisions.
• The White House said it contacted WUSA9 about the comparison to 2024 Restaurant Week data, after which the station revised its reporting.
• Outlets covering the dispute note there is no established causal link between the federal takeover and reservation trends, even as some owners told WUSA9 they believe the intervention hurt business.