Some of the UK papers play the big story of the moment with a fairly straight bat but others draw attention to the irony of Donald Trump testing positive for coronavirus, having repeatedly played down the pandemic.
The i puts one of the president’s innumerable tweets at the centre of its front page. The headline is “Covid-19 in the White House” and the tweet from February says: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA”.
Saturday's front page: Covid-19 in the White House#iweekend #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/zgxwcCtnwA pic.twitter.com/X7rSuP8ihk
— i newspaper (@theipaper) October 2, 2020
The Mail’s early edition went in hard with “How many did Trump put at risk?” saying the White House “denied mounting a cover-up” after the president went to a gala despite knowing an aide had tested positive.
Saturday's @DailyMailUK #MailFrontPages pic.twitter.com/1LbY4L3cdH
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) October 2, 2020
But that tone softened markedly in an updated edition to become “Virus-hit Trump in hospital” with the focus being on the treatment that the president is receiving.
Saturday’s Daily MAIL - updated edition: “Virus-Hit Trump In Hospital” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/m1AooNe3Nt
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) October 2, 2020
Our Guardian front page says “US election chaos as Trump hospitalised with Covid-19”. The third edition shows the president wearing a mask as he leaves the White House.
The FT’s wording is similar: “Trump’s positive coronavirus test throws US election into turmoil”.
Front page of FT Weekend, UK edition, for Sat-Sun 3-4 October 2020. pic.twitter.com/gPENDYVhlS
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) October 2, 2020
The Times’ presses also needed a plate change for the late edition. Its initial splash was “Hopes grow for vaccine”, about the Oxford project to produce a jab. Later as news spread that the president was being hospitalised, the paper switched to “Trump flown to hospital”.
Saturday’s TIMES - Updated: “Trump flown to hospital” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/qr2M4BtnsW
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) October 2, 2020
An update too for the Telegraph which started off the print run with “Trump ‘will remain on the job” but finished up with “Trump taken to hospital”.
Saturday’s Daily TELEGRAPH - Updated: “Trump taken to hospital” #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/0A3PxU99kX
— Allie Hodgkins-Brown (@AllieHBNews) October 2, 2020
(The newspapers tend only to tweet their first editions, so credit to Allie Hodgkins-Brown of the BBC for putting the updated versions out there on Twitter).
The Express splashes with what would seem an odd choice for today in any other paper – Boris Johnson revamping a line that dates back to before the referendum – with “PM: Brexit billions freed up for new hospitals”.
Tomorrow's front page: #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/pcNnQZZepg
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) October 2, 2020
The Mirror also casts its eyes elsewhere for a lead story with “Wag war court shock … Colleen: my proof”. But its final edition gets the big global story into a puff/skybox saying “Trump taken to hospital with Covid”.
And the Sun flipped things round dramatically – initially splashing with Meghan and Harry, while playing the story of the day down as “Trump’s Covid sickness ‘mild’” …
… before switching to “Prez Covid crisis – Trump flown to hospital” with “Betrayal of Megxit shock” relegated to the puff.
