Even though AP admits to publishing fake news that Nikolas Cruz was a white nationalist, they waited until Friday night to publish a very weak correction
Perfectly played by a member of the partisan mainstream media.
The Associated Press ran with the story of segregationist (I refuse to use the toxic misnomer “white nationalist”) Jordan Jereb claiming that Nikolas Cruz, the Florida school shooter, was a member of his segregationist group Republic of Florida.
They didn’t vet the information in any way. They just ran with it. Within about an hour of publication, it became clear that AP and other mainstream media outlets had been lied to. But, instead of publishing an immediate retraction, AP waited until the following day, publishing a one-sentence tweet that is no retraction at all, and they published during the black hole of weekly news, Friday night, when readership is at its lowest.
White nationalist appears to have lied to the AP, other news outlets when he claimed that Florida school-shooting suspect was a member of his group. https://t.co/E09NtwL5qF
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 17, 2018
Translation: We didn’t vet Jordan Jereb’s claim by checking a membership roster. It “appears” he lied to us. Sure, the fact that the shooter is Hispanic makes it a ridiculous notion that he is a white supremacist or white anything. We waited over a day to publish this “oh, shit” because we really, really wanted to connect the wild-eyed, maniacal killer to Trump and conservatives. Have a nice weekend.
