Baltimore Councilman to CNN: ‘Irresponsible’ for Fox to Report False Police Shooting

In the aftermath of a chaotic incident that witnesses initially believed to be a police shooting in Baltimore, CNN’s Jake Tapper spoke to Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott, who called out Fox News for what he described as their “irresponsible” reporting that turned out to be false.

Scott said he’s “concerned” that “we have members of the media being irresponsible,” singling out Fox News, where reporter Mike Tobin said he saw the shooting of a young black man occur. “When you do stuff like that irresponsibly,” he continued, “media is supposed to report what they know, not what they think.” He pleaded with any national media still in Baltimore to cover some “positive” things as well, saying, “There are so many great things going on with young people in our town that we do not have to continuously show the negative about Baltimore.”

“Amen to members of the media being responsible,” Tapper replied. But he did want to know why there have been “such vatstly different accounts of what happened.” The anchor reported that police are hoping to release surveillance footage to put the public’s mind at ease that no one was shot by police.

Following Fox’s initial, frenzied reporting, Shepard Smith issued an on air apology, telling viewers, “We screwed up.”

Watch video below, via CNN:

[Photo via screengrab]

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