Qoah so they really threw him under the bus. Crazy that the editorial staff didn't even pause when article 5 was brought up. It seems like something you might want to really be sure about, and ask more questions on who did it (not just making sure that missiles actually landed somewhere). Extremely careless
AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
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Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
That seems likely, but you still don't let the reporter off the hook. "Technically correct by one interpretation" isn't the standard for journalistic sourcing. He needed another source or more context (just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story) and didn't get one. It was a messup on a few different axes, but it's started with bad journalism. Whether or not the guy was fir…
> . He needed another source or more context To publish, maybe. He was at a doctors appointment, got a tip, and passed it to his boss. He didn't write the news alert. If they wanted more context, the other people on the chat should have found some.
That's not how I read the linked story? That particular Slack message happened to coincide with his doctor's appointment, but the article that printed had his byline on it. Surely he wrote it, or at the very least dictated it to an editor who put it in the system. No one publishes stories on the wire based on a two-message slack thread sent from the doctor's office!
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#13>I can’t imagine a US intelligence official would be wrong on this
Has this AP reporter been asleep for … their entire career? Charitably, I can interpret this as the reporter thinking they wouldn’t make up something about a potential Article 5 event, but - and maybe it’s my cynicism about this war - wouldn’t that mean you’d want to guarantee that what you’re saying is super precise? “Russian missiles hit Poland” vs “Russian missiles fired by Ukraine hit Poland” obviously mean very different things.
Doesn’t look like LaPorta did anything wrong here, necessarily, and this looks like an editorial problem to me.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#14Frankly, this seems like an editorial mistake not a journalists mistake. Unless he completely made up the information he received, or lied about the attribution in the internal slack chat, he should not have been fired for this. This was an editorial error. In fact, the exact information he passed along was factually correct by one interpretation. The S-300 rockets were "Russian" in the sense that they were Russian m…
That seems likely, but you still don't let the reporter off the hook. "Technically correct by one interpretation" isn't the standard for journalistic sourcing. He needed another source or more context (just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story) and didn't get one. It was a messup on a few different axes, but it's started with bad journalism. Whether or not the guy was fir…
It started with commonplace entry level potential story journalism.
The reporter literally passed on a tip that missiles (alleged to be Russian type missiles) had landed in Poland (true).
He also passed on that this came from a previously vetted source (also true).
After this point the story was literally in the hands of the editorial staff.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
That seems likely, but you still don't let the reporter off the hook. "Technically correct by one interpretation" isn't the standard for journalistic sourcing. He needed another source or more context (just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story) and didn't get one. It was a messup on a few different axes, but it's started with bad journalism. Whether or not the guy was fir…
> just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story I understand why "Russia fires on Poland" is news. Why is "Ukraine fires on Poland, blames Russia" not news?
Two main reasons
1) Article 5. If Poland is attacked NATO would have to use whatever force was needed to protect it. In Russia's case, that means war against a nuclear power. In Ukraine's case, it means telling them NATO'll stop delivering weapons and Ukraine can fight Russia alone unless they apologize. Even if there was a war with Ukraine, it's not a nuclear power and wouldn't last long against NATO.
2) It was an accident. Russia launching on Poland could have been intentional. Ukraine almost certainly did it by mistake. (BTW, Russia apologizing in an hour and paying reparations would likely also have had no long term effect). Since it was an accident Ukraine probably blamed Russia thinking it was Russia since they didn't think they had done it. And by "blamed" I mean, it was after the AP story brought it to light. So more like denied it was them. Fog of war and all.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#16Frankly, this seems like an editorial mistake not a journalists mistake. Unless he completely made up the information he received, or lied about the attribution in the internal slack chat, he should not have been fired for this. This was an editorial error. In fact, the exact information he passed along was factually correct by one interpretation. The S-300 rockets were "Russian" in the sense that they were Russian m…
That seems likely, but you still don't let the reporter off the hook. "Technically correct by one interpretation" isn't the standard for journalistic sourcing. He needed another source or more context (just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story) and didn't get one. It was a messup on a few different axes, but it's started with bad journalism. Whether or not the guy was fir…
Not to sound like a wise-ass but by defintion there is no such thing as bad journalism. If you're doing "bad journalism" you're doing journalism at all.
Giving such credit (even with the disclaimer of bad) where credit is *no* due is why the "news media" has become so pathetic and Orwellian. It's sad to see a profession that doesn't even know its own definition and standards.
They can be clueless, that doesn't mean the rest of us have to be complicit.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#17No post body was provided.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#18> But while Nixon had approved the use of that specific anonymous source in the past, people involved said, Nixon was not aware of that tip or that story. LaPorta did not exactly claim that Nixon had approved the source in this case, but his words were interpreted by the editors to mean that he did.
As other commenters have suggested, this seems like an editorial failure in the rush to say "FIRST!" and severely damages the AP's reputation even with their retraction and response.
I hate to imply that this isn't the first time, since I don't have the resources or time machines to back myself up, but I don't think this is the first time AP (or Reuters) has done this. Just maybe the most visible and recent.
At risk of flame baiting, I am curious whether this retraction and correction will be taken into account when discussing the veracity of speeches given by former/potentially future political figures; per CNN:
> Missile landing in Poland > > Trump claimed Tuesday that a missile that was “sent in probably by Russia” landed 50 miles into Poland. “People are going absolutely wild and crazy and they’re not happy,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago. > > Facts First: This claim is false. While Poland said a Russian-made missile did land in their territory Tuesday, killing two Polish citizens, the explosion happened about four miles west from the Ukrainian border. > > Additionally, it remains unclear where the missile was fired from, and why it fell in Poland.
At the time, like many of us, Trump relied on the AP's reporting of the facts. Will he be blamed for "lying" long after? My guess is yes.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
That seems likely, but you still don't let the reporter off the hook. "Technically correct by one interpretation" isn't the standard for journalistic sourcing. He needed another source or more context (just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story) and didn't get one. It was a messup on a few different axes, but it's started with bad journalism. Whether or not the guy was fir…
> just an identification of these as AA missiles would have been enough to kill the story I understand why "Russia fires on Poland" is news. Why is "Ukraine fires on Poland, blames Russia" not news?
Probably because Ukraine didn't fire on Poland they fired on armament launched by Russia.
Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process
#20Wild that they would go to press even with a single intelligence source. We know the CIA has used journalists to spread lies in the past, why wouldn't they be doing it now?
For reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwerBZG83YM