AP's strategy in wake of erroneous report on 'Russian' missile calls their cred into serious question

It’s hard to believe it was only a week ago when the news broke that Russia had fired missiles into Poland, but it was only a week ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly proclaimed that “we must act.” Indeed, this sounded like major escalation in Russia’s war on Ukraine, and a lot of people all over the world were understandably concerned.

But as time went on, the news started to evolve, ending up at a point in which, actually, a missile had been fired from Ukraine military forces, which, last time we checked, are not Russian military forces.

Three U.S. officials told the @AP that preliminary assessments indicate the missile that struck Poland had been fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian missile.https://t.co/0M7UuvvjCz

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 16, 2022

So, how did such a potentially hugely consequential mixup happen in the first place? Well, now that the Associated Press has fired a reporter over it, we may have a bit more insight:

New: ⁦⁦@AP⁩ fires reporter over erroneous news alert on Russian attack. Latest by me: https://t.co/LxLUkPjIgZ

— Paul Farhi (@farhip) November 22, 2022

More from the Washington Post:

Officials at the Associated Press declined to identify LaPorta as the source of the alert. In a statement, AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said, “The rigorous editorial standards and practices of the Associated Press are critical to AP’s mission as independent news organization. To ensure our reporting is accurate, fair and fact-based, we abide by and enforce these standards, including around the use of anonymous sources. When our standards are violated, we must take the steps necessary to protect the integrity of the news report. We do not make these decisions lightly, nor are they based on isolated incidents.”

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If the AP doesn’t make decisions lightly, they really could’ve fooled us. Because it sure doesn’t sound like they put a whole lot of thought into vetting the story before running with it:

LaPorta shared the U.S. official’s tip in an electronic message around 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. An editor immediately asked if AP should issue an alert on his tip, “or would we need confirmation from another source and/or Poland?”

After further discussion, a second editor said she “would vote” for publishing an alert, adding, “I can’t imagine a U.S. intelligence official would be wrong on this.”

But a person at the Associated Press familiar with the larger conversations surrounding the story that day said LaPorta also told his editors that a senior manager had already vetted the source of LaPorta’s tip — leaving the impression that the story’s sourcing had been approved. While that editor had signed off on previous stories using LaPorta’s source, that editor had not weighed in on the missile story.

Does anyone at the AP know what’s going on, or … ?

'a second editor said she “would vote” for publishing an alert, adding, “I can’t imagine a U.S. intelligence official would be wrong on this.'
https://t.co/qkUEQtAYPK

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) November 22, 2022

duuuude

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) November 22, 2022

Uh, yeah. Duuuude.

Wow https://t.co/Y0ceH7fxKt pic.twitter.com/Dvi50H8Z5W

— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) November 22, 2022

Tell me you don’t know anything about intelligence without telling me you don’t know anything about intelligence https://t.co/8mUt5WnyCo pic.twitter.com/ANnBNlGxSS

— All Berets Matter (@AllBeretsMatter) November 22, 2022

Perhaps we should just shut the AP down until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

fire the AP editors who issued the alert of the false Russian missile attack on Poland, and then find the source who provided the tip to James LaPorta and make sure they never work in the intelligence community again. https://t.co/4dBf9SOXTT pic.twitter.com/4DK5xwNlRY

— siraj hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) November 22, 2022

Seems like quite a few people deserve to lose their jobs over this.

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