ABC News and other mainstream outlets face near-universal criticism today for a botched and incompetently managed story involving former national security advisor Michael Flynn. Mediaite described the blowback in detail:
Per multiple reports earlier, Brian Ross‘ report that Flynn is expected to testify Trump directed him to meet with Russians “as a candidate” was followed minutes later by a drop in the stock market.
But as Ross clarified on World News Tonight (video here), it was as President-elect, not as a candidate, and that is kind of a major difference.
Kind of? That’s the understatement of the year. According to ABC, which tweeted a weasely clarification, Flynn is reportedly prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump instructed him to contact Russian officials during the transition to begin coordinating in the fight against ISIS.
Newsflash to the Ivy League grads reporting the news: Post-election diplomacy is not the same as collusion.
The response from the Twitterverse was swift and merciless, too:
THAT’S KIND OF IMPORTANT https://t.co/G8TfFzenOC
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) December 1, 2017
That’s a huge correction https://t.co/EIMaE0EkGu
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) December 1, 2017
Astonishing. The story moved markets, set off a media frenzy, suggested worst possible outcome. This is called a massive correction, or retraction, not clarification. https://t.co/uVUamf4jYY
— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) December 2, 2017
This isn’t a clarification, it’s a huge correction and one that took hours to do. https://t.co/rYozu7x8Kl
— andrew kaczynski???? (@KFILE) December 2, 2017
So the earlier erroneous description was… _fake news_? https://t.co/UcmvK9xYew
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) December 2, 2017
(H/T: Mediaite)
AAN Staff
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