ABC News’ major report on Michael Flynn and President Trump‘s direction on reaching out to the Russians has been corrected. Hours later. And Twitter is ripping the network over it.
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.
ABC News also tweeted out a clarification and deleted its earlier tweet:
CLARIFICATION of ABC News Special Report: Flynn prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians *during the transition* — initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria, confidant now says. https://t.co/ewrkVZBTbc pic.twitter.com/GQAKwT1Eda
— ABC News (@ABC) December 2, 2017
Twitter pretty much flipped out over the major correction:
That’s a huge correction https://t.co/EIMaE0EkGu
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) December 1, 2017
ABC News and Brian Ross did more to help Trump today with their irresponsible Flynn plea deal reporting than Trump could’ve ever asked for.
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncher) December 2, 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
Also: Why did ABC News leave this hanging out there until 6:30 pm? https://t.co/uIR0jO2j0j
— Kyle Blaine (@kyletblaine) December 2, 2017
If we want to regain trust in the media we need to admit our mistakes, especially when as consequential as this. Retract. Correct. Don’t use weasel words to describe it. https://t.co/jFIavaQ4yv
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) December 2, 2017
What makes it worse is that ABC won’t admit its error and now tries to sugar coat it with now calling their correction just a ‘clarification’ – (and other news organizations of course repeated ABC original story) https://t.co/bgZhtK40wB
— Greta Van Susteren (@greta) December 2, 2017
So the earlier erroneous description was… _fake news_? https://t.co/UcmvK9xYew
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) December 2, 2017
Sigh, actually more like a mind numbing primal scream. But that’s just me. https://t.co/vzd0ZDyjSA
— SalenaZito (@SalenaZito) 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
This is not a “clarification,” this is a huge effing difference. ABC report first said Trump direction came *during the campaign*. Market literally ranked because of that. https://t.co/1iymWUL50Q
— Anthony Zurcher (@awzurcher) December 2, 2017
This is in no way a clarification. It is a massive correction. https://t.co/W4GEx8lCX6
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) December 2, 2017
This is a massive “clarification.” Wow. https://t.co/P8b8sIazQy
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) December 2, 2017
Great job, fellas. Really first class. It’s been what, seven hours or so? On a Friday evening? Spectacular. https://t.co/FSAqZimVUw
— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) December 2, 2017
A lot of people shared this report breathlessly earlier. https://t.co/PMhLiJyYv0
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) December 2, 2017
Very differenthttps://t.co/eBaVka0nih
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) December 2, 2017
That’s not a clarification. That’s a retraction. A totally different story. https://t.co/0dJAB7wEvq
— Adam Davidson (@adamdavidson) December 2, 2017
UPDATE –– 9:28 pm ET: A report tonight on the error filed by CNN’s Oliver Darcy says ABC News’ correction came after CNN reached out for comment:
ABC News’ correction to bombshell Flynn report came after I had contacted them to ask why @BrianRoss‘ initial reporting wasn’t in network’s online story: https://t.co/qZRjfEBbwA pic.twitter.com/lqdVi0163H
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 2, 2017
[image via screengrab]
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