When President Trump visits Jerusalem next week he will be staying at the King David Hotel. This, of course, is not particularly newsworthy, as heads of state have been staying at the hotel since it first opened its doors in 1931.
However, some mainstream media outlets such as NBC News, have decided to twist this bland piece of news into a sensationalistic hit piece by grossly exaggerating the cost of the hotel's Presidential Suite.
According to Paul Goldman and F. Brinley Bruton of NBC News, Trump will be staying in a bomb-proof, bullet-proof, poison gas-proof $5,700-a-night hotel suite designed to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade attack and will bring an "1,000-person entourage" along with him.
"You've heard of armored vehicles for world leaders and A-list celebrities. Now President Donald Trump is about to get an armored hotel suite," the NBC News report begins, setting the tone for a news article that implies, albeit indirectly, that Trump is demanding frills, perks and accommodations above and beyond those of his predecessors.
"Every piece of food for the president will be certified as safe, with a tester overseen by Israeli and U.S. security officials perusing every meal destined for Trump and his family," wrote Goldman and Bruton, thereby making Donald Trump seem more like a medieval monarch intoxicated on his own power than a democratically-elected president.
Goldman and Bruton added that the president will be accompanied through the city by more than 10,000 Israeli police officers when he's not enjoying the amenities of his "super-luxurious" suite, which according to NBC News, features its own independent air conditioning system.
But that's not all - the report also claims that Trump will be protected in part by "balloons carrying infrared cameras," while "bomb-spotting robots will lurk in sewers beneath it."
NBC neglects to mention Obama's hotel stay
The NBC News article is woefully devoid of context, as Bruton and Goldman's 898-word report fails to mention any of the previous U.S.
presidents who have stayed at the King David, such as Barack Obama, who along with his entourage, stayed at the hotel for two days in March of 2013.
Obama was apparently so delighted with his accommodations that he even took to autograph the hotel's guest book, writing, "Thank you for making my return to this holiest of cities so wonderful." Dan Hotels Israel, the owner of the King David, still features a photo of Obama's thank you note on its website.
According to Dan Hotels Israel, other notable guests have included Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Clinton and George W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton wrote about her own stay there in her 2014 autobiography "Hard Choices."
According to a March 18, 2013 article by The Guardian, Obama's stay at the King David Hotel was marked by an enormous chocolate cake constructed in his image and the bumping of hundreds of other paying hotel guests to make room for Obama's own equally-large entourage. In fact, Obama and his entourage took over every single room at the King David.
"We had to ask them nicely to move to other hotels," said manager Dror Danino to The Guardian. "I have to say all were very understanding."
Obama's visit also necessitated the closing of King David Street - the city's main thoroughfare - for three entire days.
NBC exaggerates hotel rates
However, the real proof that NBC News is playing hard and fast with the journalistic rules is the misrepresentation of the hotel's rates by Goldman and Bruton.
According to the Dan Hotels Israel website, a one night stay for two adults in the King David Hotel's Presidential Suite is $3,900. Three people can spend the night in the Presidential Suite for $4,020. That is a far cry from the $5,700-per-night rate claimed by NBC News.
