http://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2019/11/19/look-why-the-afp-withdrew-a-story-about-the-more-than-100000-migrant-children-in-us-detention-centers/
It's one thing for a news agency to add a correction to the bottom of a story and then send out a second tweet acknowledging it, but it's another thing entirely to withdraw an entire piece, but that's what the AFP news agency did Tuesday.
Why scrap an entire story? Because the whole thing was based on a false premise, and no amount of editorial tinkering could fix that.
The AFP's story was about the 100,000 migrant children currently in U.S. detention centers, according to the U.N.:
AFP: "#BREAKING More than 100,000 children in migration-related US detention: UN."
Also breaking: That number reaches all the way back to 2015 when President Obama was in office and putting kids in cages:
AFP: "AFP is withdrawing this story.
The author of the report has clarified that his figures do not represent the number of children currently in migration-related US detention, but the total number of children in migration-related US detention in 2015.
We will delete the story."
But we were assured it was President Trump putting kids in cages and that there were no scandals during the Obama administration ...
Ryan: "I screencapped the entire story so it's now safe to delete it."
Thanks, Ryan. Let's have a look:
Huh ... Manfred Nowak, lead author of the United Nations Global Study on Children Deprived of Liberty, said, "Separating children, as was done by the Trump administration ... constitutes inhuman treatment of both the parent and the children."
Various Twitter responses:
"So who was the President in 2015?"
"We're deleting the story because how it makes the last president look."
"Oof, can't let any news get out there that may make President Obama's administration look bad. This was a close call, guys!!"
"Let's withdraw this, because it happened in 2015, when Obama was President and Biden was Vice President.
Sounds fair."
"Holy shit you almost told the truth. Close call."
"Why would you delete the story and not just say these are the number of children in migration-related US detention WHEN BARAK OBAMA WAS PRESIDENT?????"
"Actually, amend the story to reflect it happened under the last administration, then run it again. Then ask tough questions about why, who allowed it, outcomes, etc. You know, journalism 101 stuff ..."
"AFP: 'Delete the story. We can't have Obama looking bad. Gotta protect the precious.'"
"Whew! Good thing it was from 2015. I was almost afraid that something bad had happened."
"So these children were held during the Obama presidency ... Nice to hear about it now!"
"Please link us to the story you ran on the subject, when equally outraged, in 2015."
"If you can't attack a Republican, it's not a story ..."
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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