In a rush to report the most controversial news after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting last week, the Associated Press and other news outlets ran stories claiming the gunman had ties to white nationalists. The AP discovered the allegations were false and retracted the story, but the damage was already done.
Twitter users quickly pounced when the AP tweeted, “Leader of white nationalist group has confirmed suspect in Florida school shooting was a member of his organization.”
Within minutes, the AP tweeted again. This time, it quoted a law enforcement official who stated that he had no knowledge of a connection between white nationalists and the shooter.
The first tweet, which was false, received 40,000 retweets and 50,000 likes. The second tweet, which was true, received less than 10,000 likes and retweets.
The AP has a powerful voice. More than 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 television and radio broadcasters use the news its journalists gather.
Politico reported that the AP — the largest, most powerful news gathering service in the world — was fooled by “white nationalist trolls” on the internet.
No amount of evil allows for sloppy reporting. Truth is in fact the enemy of evil, and that’s why journalists should take special care with their reporting in the wake of enormities such as the Florida school massacre.
Everyone makes mistakes, of course, and that’s why newspapers have correction boxes. But corrections don’t always rectify a wrong.
On the internet, the false information has a tendency to exist forever. Many people will continue to believe false narratives because they never heard the latest, correct information.
News outlets ought to prioritize accuracy above timeliness, fairness above partisanship, and truth above politics.