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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

#71

Post by bandyaboot »

pessimizer wrote: post #58
ncallaway wrote: post #3

Frankly, 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…

Can anybody knowledgeable tell me why Ukraine would have old-ass Soviet missiles left? I would naïvely assume that old munitions would be long gone (aren't we like 8 months in?) and replaced with shiny US stuff.

The location might be a factor. Munitions that have been stockpiled in the western part of the country are likely not being expended at nearly the rate that they are in other parts.

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#72

Post by zapdrive »

IncRnd wrote: post #22

The people in that Slack thread, except for the reporter James LaPorta, exhibited an incredible amount of willful ignorance that bordered on stupidity. The original statement was vague and did not name a source. It held the pretense of a source by saying an unnamed senior American intelligence official was in some capacity vetted by Ron Nixon. It's not clear whether the person was vetted as an official, if his words…

No post body was provided.

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#73

Post by fshbbdssbbgdd »

zapdrive wrote: post #72
IncRnd wrote: post #22

The people in that Slack thread, except for the reporter James LaPorta, exhibited an incredible amount of willful ignorance that bordered on stupidity. The original statement was vague and did not name a source. It held the pretense of a source by saying an unnamed senior American intelligence official was in some capacity vetted by Ron Nixon. It's not clear whether the person was vetted as an official, if his words…

Quoted post unavailable.

With conclusion-jumping skills like that, you may have a bright future as an editor at the AP.

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#74

Post by mc32 »

remarkEon wrote: post #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…

Who say things like “American missiles fired by Ukraine?” It would only make sense to say that if US troops on the ground hosted by Ukraine fired the missiles.

It’s stupid. No one says Chinese AK-47s fired by Ukrainian soldiers.

Someone was playing stupid.

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#75

Post by ww-picard-do »

zapdrive wrote: post #72
IncRnd wrote: post #22

The people in that Slack thread, except for the reporter James LaPorta, exhibited an incredible amount of willful ignorance that bordered on stupidity. The original statement was vague and did not name a source. It held the pretense of a source by saying an unnamed senior American intelligence official was in some capacity vetted by Ron Nixon. It's not clear whether the person was vetted as an official, if his words…

Quoted post unavailable.

> Maybe AP did not want to create a shitstorm by firing one of the 5 women

And your speculation is backed by evidence? Or are you spreading unconfirmed rumors just like those in this story?

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#76

Post by refurb »

Jesus. The quality of discussion in that thread ranks right up there with Reddit.

These are the people who are writing world-changing news everyday.

And the worst part is they even mention "Will this trigger article 5?". So they know just how big the implications of the story are but decide to run it because "US intelligence [via unnamed source] can't be wrong!".

And these are the same organizations that rail again "disinformation".

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#77

Post by anikan_vader »

pessimizer wrote: post #63
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that they want to get rid of their old stuff (and the best way to do that, is throw it at the Russians). Maybe those missiles were protecting something of a lower priority, than the "shiny" kit. Also, the most important aspect of any enterprise, is the human . These folks trained for years, on Russian kit, and know it backwards and forwards.

I would assume that they had gotten rid of their old stuff 7 months ago.

It would have been highly unusual for the Ukrainian military to have depleted their entire anti-air arsenal in April, given that, at the time, they weren't receiving Western high-altitude anti-air systems. (Nor were they facing a persistent campaign by Russian warplanes deep behind the front line, since by that point the Russian air force had largely given up on straying deep into Ukraine.)

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#78

Post by justsomehnguy »

pessimizer wrote: post #58
ncallaway wrote: post #3

Frankly, 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…

Can anybody knowledgeable tell me why Ukraine would have old-ass Soviet missiles left? I would naïvely assume that old munitions would be long gone (aren't we like 8 months in?) and replaced with shiny US stuff.

Look at the globe. It was the main part of USSR defense against West offensive. The only country which had a comparable amount of defensive systems is Poland.

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#79

Post by mc32 »

ncallaway wrote: post #3

Frankly, 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…

Do people often say when reporting on wars: Chinese AK-47s killed 20 civilians in Afghanistan, or do they say 10 Isis fighters fired AK-47s killing twenty civilians in Kabul?

Oh, Twenty American guided missiles killed Houthi fighters —but but they were fired by Saudi Arabian forces from Saudi Arabia. Or French Exocet missiles killed blah blah blah in blah blah blah (without further context?)

You want to know who in hell fired them not who the hell actually manufactured the damned armaments. WTF kind of idiotic reporting is that?

Re: AP fired reporter after dangerous blunder – Slack chats reveal chaotic process

#80

Post by glitchc »

It's very simple. They didn't add the word "allegedly" because they trusted the source. The reporter made it seem like the anonymous source was trustworthy and they trusted the reporter's claim on this. That missing word got the reporter fired.
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