ABC News took ‘fake news’ to a whole new level earlier today, reporting that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had pleaded guilty to five counts of manslaughter.
The network was airing comments by the President, who was discussing signing a directive to end the practice of separating parents and children caught crossing the border illegally.
As the President spoke, ABC posted a chyron at the bottom of the screen which read, “Manafort Pleads Guilty to 5 Charges of Manslaughter.”
Why this would even be in the queue is confusing, since Manafort has not pleaded guilty to any crimes, let alone ones in which he’s never been accused.
ABC News’ banner briefly reported this afternoon that Paul Manafort pleaded guilty to killing five people. (He has not) pic.twitter.com/ZnL94QJKOh
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) June 20, 2018
Incredible. People watching the report had to be taken aback by something posted quite officially by a major network. That would have been a major bombshell.
ABC was forced to issue an apology for their epic mistake.
“We regret and apologize for the false lower third graphic that aired during our special report,” they said in a social media statement. “We are investigating how incorrect information was in our system and how and why it was allowed to air.”
(cont.) We apologize to our viewers and to Mr. Manafort. There simply is no excuse for this sort of mistake. (2/2)
— ABCNews PR (@ABCNewsPR) June 20, 2018
No doubt this will be swept under the rug and a low-level intern will be the fall guy or gal for the ‘mistake.’ A mistake that clearly had to be typed into the system somewhere at ABC.
ABC News apologizes for false graphic saying Manafort pleaded guilty to manslaughterhttps://t.co/BF17hhRAL2 pic.twitter.com/TiMHrEUWgO
— The Hill (@thehill) June 20, 2018
Last year, ABC News anchor Brian Ross was the recipient of a GOP-led ‘fake news award’ after he erroneously reported that Michael Flynn attempted to make contact with Russian officials before the election.
The reality was that Flynn had tried to make contact after the election, something you’d expect from the team of an incoming President.
Ross’ fake report sent the stock market into a deep dive and he was suspended by the network.
Unsurprisingly, this is not the first, or the last, time the liberal media will get busted for pushing fake news. (RELATED: Watch: Sarah Sanders Absolutely Shuts Down CNN’s Jim Acosta When He Defends ‘Fake News’).
Who’s getting suspended for this Manafort gaffe?
Source: Mediaite
