Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

GD_American t1_ixfpwk3 wrote

Reply to comment by soneast in Associated Press reporter fired over erroneous story on Russian attack by Moynamama

Jim LaPorta was literally at the doctor, passed along a tip in the Slack channel, when asked on whether he thought they should publish said "above my pay grade", then editor Zeina Karam made the decision to publish.

LaPorta fired, Karam still employed. Check the messages yourself:

​

https://www.semafor.com/article/11/22/2022/ap-fired-a-reporter-after-a-dangerous-blunder-slack-messages-reveal-a-chaotic-process

284

yell-loud t1_ixfu6l9 wrote

Well that doesn’t seem right at all. He passed on a tip and said he knew nothing further. Dude got scapegoated hard

171

drmcsinister t1_ixfu57c wrote

That's pretty fucked up. Hard to trust the AP if they are so backhanded in dealing with mistakes.

95

MyBallsAreOnFir3 t1_ixh8qsn wrote

People have been putting way too much trust in outlets like AP and Reuters. Turns out that the more impartial and trustworthy a news source claims to be and the more alert we should be. It's easy to see the bias of obviously biased news outlets, much harder to see it when it's this subtle and hidden.

−37

89141 t1_ixhem0y wrote

Bullshit! Go watch Fox News then if you don’t want journalism.

24

C-H-U-D t1_ixi953a wrote

The difference between “reputable” sources is that they at least make attempts at correcting mistakes.

Fox News, Newsmax, etc? They just don’t mention the mistake the next day like it never happened.

4

Barkasia t1_ixicy0i wrote

If the AP is biased then quite literally everyone is, and bias is no longer a relevant factor outside of the severity of said bias - in which case the AP still come out ahead of the pack.

4

gizm770o t1_ixhw3dw wrote

What is the APs obvious bias?

2

bp92009 t1_ixjcvw4 wrote

Reality.

Which often has a liberal bias, as least to the modern Republican party.

3

Omnipotent48 t1_ixullgj wrote

I don't know why you got downvoted for demonstrating basic critical thinking. We should always be skeptical of our news sources, especially if we haven't clocked their biases yet.

2

MyBallsAreOnFir3 t1_ixuw40g wrote

> for demonstrating basic critical thinking

Reddit encourages conformity. Which is why people use words like "circlejerk" and "hivemind" to describe it. Being critical and having your own opinion if highly discouraged here.

2

St1834 t1_ixg1vyr wrote

The conversation isn't about whether LaPorta's tip is correct, it's about whether LaPorta's correct tip was enough to publish based off of. It assumed LaPorta was correct because he shouldn't have brought in a tip if he hadn't verified it properly according to AP's standards first. And like the article said, AP found he hadn't and implied this wasn't the first time.

31

GD_American t1_ixg272d wrote

The confusion came from LaPorta saying that the source had been previously vetted and the editors assuming he was saying the tip had been vetted. So while he's not 100% blameless, come on. He was passing a tip in his off time. The editors had the responsibility to verify.

60

St1834 t1_ixg2pac wrote

He is the reporter. He has the responsibility to verify. In some cases, the reporter is the only one who knows the anonymous source. They assumed the tip was properly vetted because it shouldn't have been brought to them otherwise. If he was too busy, he should have passed it off to another trusted reporter, not sent it up the chain with an unclear status. And then, when asked if this was enough to publish based on, he should have said "NO because this doesn't meet AP's reporting guidelines. Sorry if I wasn't clear." not "not my job".

And, again, AP's statement implied this wasn't an isolated incident. Blame is 100% on him, this was a totally half-assed reporting job.

6

GD_American t1_ixg4i38 wrote

If you literally read the link you can see, he wasn't the reporter. He literally passed along a tip. It's a lead- the kind professionals share with each other all the time. He didn't submit this as a story, he didn't push to publish (and in fact explicitly tossed that decision to editors), he literally said "hey heard this from a guy, who another guy we know trusts, do with it what you will, I'm at the doctor".

Yet you keep pointing to implied smears from the AP against the guy they just scapegoated, and ignore actual screenshots of the conversation in question

64

St1834 t1_ixg52sv wrote

>he wasn't the reporter. He literally passed along a tip.

So, that means he was the reporter. Reporters report tips. If he wasn't busy, he would have written the story too. That's what they were asking him to do.

>he didn't push to publish (and in fact explicitly tossed that decision to editors)

Giving them a tip that he knew or should have known didn't meet AP reporting standards and then not telling them not to publish based on that.

>he literally said "hey heard this from a guy, who another guy we know trusts

He didn't. If he did, they would have said "oh, this is wrong, go back and do it the right way". He took a tip up the chain, written in an unclear way, that he should have known didn't meet reporting standards, and didn't make clear that it didn't meet reporting standards, even when asked if it should be reported.

>Yet you keep pointing to implied smears from the AP against the guy they just scapegoated, and ignore actual screenshots of the conversation in question

No, I'm pointing out what's going on in the conversation and then also pointing out that the AP said this wasn't an isolated incident.

−60

Kernel32Sanders t1_ixg49tt wrote

Lol that is the dumbest thing I'll read today.

11

[deleted] t1_ixfrevd wrote

[removed]

−84

Noisy_Toy t1_ixft0ok wrote

Wow, your comment history is a festering cesspool of misinformation, misogyny, and anti-semitism.

The complete troll hat trick.

50