The mainstream media claims to be very concerned about fake news, but continues to report it. When a story comes out that makes the right — especially President Trump — look bad, reporters are so excited to break the news that they get sloppy about verifying its accuracy. It seems to be happening more and more lately, perhaps because Trump is now president.

A man claimed a few days ago that his mother died in Iraq after Trump banned refugees from entering the U.S. Mike Hager told a Fox News affiliate in Detroit that he had flown to Iraq to bring her back to the U.S. for medical treatment.

The Media Ran With It

“I really believe this in my heart: if they would have let us in, my mom — she would have made it and she would have been sitting right here next to me,” he said. “She’s gone because of him.”

The mainstream media ran with the story and the sad statement. Sources running it included CNN, CBS, Buzzfeed and Yahoo.

"She's gone because of him."

This man says his mom died after being denied US entry over Trump’s travel ban https://t.co/tRvJvld5sS

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 1, 2017

However, Imam Husham Al-Husainy, of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, told the news station that wasn’t true. He said Hager’s mother actually died five days before the travel ban. Some of the media outlets corrected their previous articles, but others, like “award-winning reporter” Jim Smith for CBS Boston, didn’t bother.

Business as Usual

Some of the media outlets corrected their previous articles, but others, like “award-winning reporter” Jim Smith for CBS Boston, didn’t bother.

This comes just days after the media fell for another anti-Trump fake news story. Zeke Miller, a reporter with Time magazine, tweeted on January 20 that Trump had removed a bust of Martin Luther King, Jr., from the White House. His tweet spread like wildfire, as mainstream media outlets breathlessly ran with the story.

Miller didn’t even check with anyone at the White House about it. He simply decided since he couldn’t see the bust, it must have been removed. In reality, the statue had never been moved — he couldn’t see it from where he was standing in the room.

He eventually issued a retraction, but it wasn’t covered nearly as much as the initial fake story. He doesn’t appear to have been disciplined over the incident.

It’s just business as usual for those in the mainstream media. White House press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted a reminder to the press to check facts before they tweet. But without any consequences, there is little incentive for the press to fact check awful stories about Trump.

A reminder of the media danger of tweet first check facts later https://t.co/dYqwRv1p0f

— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) January 21, 2017

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