Who is more dangerous to the public, the late Senator Oldsmobile, a/k/a Teddy Kennedy, driving drunk at night with his headlights off, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate with a loaded handgun, or Brian Ross late of ABC News with an anonymous tip? From CNN [1]:
ABC News on Friday evening corrected an explosive special report that aired in the morning saying that Donald Trump, as a candidate for president, had asked Michael Flynn to make contact with Russians.
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The initial report, based on one anonymous source, prompted a dramatic reaction in the financial markets, and the Dow fell more than 350 points.
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A tweet published by ABC News containing Ross’ initial report had been retweeted more than 25,000 times and embedded in various news
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stories online before it was deleted. ABC posted a “clarification” on Twitter around 8 p.m.
An ABC spokesperson said the network learned its initial reporting was incorrect at about 6 p.m. The network spokesperson declined to say if any disciplinary action would occur.
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Shortly before 11 p.m., after a barrage of criticism, ABC posted a new tweet with the header “Correction” instead of “Clarification” followed by the same text as the prior tweet. The original tweet was deleted.
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This is not the first high-profile mistake by Ross. In a 2012 piece for which he apologized, he suggested that the Aurora shooter may have had a connection to the Tea Party.
Brian Ross’ Fearless Fosdick [2] style of reporter tanked the market in the morning prior to Eleven. It was over twelve hours later that the adults at ABC News issued a correction.
edit:dl