O’Donnell retracts, sorta: “We don’t know if the information is inaccurate”

Trump

MSNBC called it a retraction. Lawrence O’Donnell called it a retraction too. Yet nowhere in this apology does O’Donnell actually retract his claim that Russian oligarchs co-signed Donald Trump’s loans from Deutsche Bank. Instead, O’Donnell apologizes for not vetting the story more thoroughly before it went on the air (via Twitchy):

When you state that “we don’t know if the information is inaccurate,” that’s not really a retraction. That’s a rather telling hedge, too, as MSNBC producer Michael DelMoro admitted yesterday that O’Donnell’s source hadn’t even seen the bank records to confirm the claim for him/herself, let alone produce the documents for NBC’s review. At best the claim was secondhand hearsay with no evidentiary value at all. It’s closer to a chatroom rumor that O’Donnell chose to amplify on a national broadcast.

Besides, if it was a retraction, wouldn’t O’Donnell have deleted this tweet?

As of 8 am ET this morning, that tweet is still live on O’Donnell’s Twitter thread, and has over 37,700 retweets and almost 90,000 likes. A lie — excuse me, a potential inaccuracy, according to O’Donnell — may get around the world before the truth gets its boots on, but usually a responsible journalist won’t keep the lie on world tour after offering a supposed “retraction.”

Trump’s complaints about “fake news” often get tiresome and are almost always self serving. Hard to complain about it here, though:

One might even chalk up this claimed “retraction” as fake news. The original report was a black eye for NBC News and MSNBC, but at least that was mostly O’Donnell’s doing. The ongoing attempt to keep the rumor alive even while claiming a “retraction” is perhaps even worse, and even more indicative of the values of NBC/MSNBC than the original offense.

Articles You May Like

MORE DETAILS, mysteries surrounding the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
Bill Maher tears into the government for working with social media companies to shut down COVID-19 debate
NYPD reports 2 stabbing subway incidents: 52-year-old man attacked for refusing to stop smoking and woman stabbed in the back
Univision’s Jorge Ramos Gets SHUT DOWN On Immigration, Border Crisis
NYPD deploys 800 more cops to subway to crack down on fare evasions: ‘Key component to our crime-reduction strategy’

Leave a Comment - No Links Allowed:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *