WaPo Falsely Told Readers Teen Was Shot Dead. They Issued A Correction, But Is That Enough?

Did you know there are still people who believe the Trump Russia dossier and collusion hoax, despite extremely thorough debunking of those widely spread false claims? The mainstream media made sure everyone heard about it, even though it wasn’t true, and then they made little effort to correct their misinformation. And there are still people who think that Kyle Rittenhouse shot three black men, despite overwhelming video evidence and an entire trial on the subject. That’s because the media made sure the public inferred this about the situation, even if they didn’t ever specifically say that he shot black men. They implied it, and people believed the incorrect implications. And that misguided belief of something that was not true fueled not only the hatred for Kyle Rittenhouse but also the violent and destructive riots that have gone on for years since. That was the media’s intention. They fanned and fueled the fires of racial hatred by leading people to believe something that simply was not true.

They do it all the time and suffer no real consequences, so they continue to do it. Because what’s stopping them, really? And today, the mainstream media misinformation machine struck again in epic fashion. Recently, The Washington Post sent out a newsletter with a top story about a teen boy, Ralph Yarl, who was shot by an 84-year-old man when the boy knocked on his door. Now, the facts are still few and far between, so I’m not going to speculate about details that we don’t know. But what we do know is that Ralph Yarl did not die. And yet, that’s exactly what The Washington Post story claimed. They sent a newsletter out to their readers informing them that this black teen was shot dead by an old white man for knocking on the wrong door. Yes, they are absolutely setting the narrative here, and stoking the flames hatred and outrage.

They then sent out an email with a correction, and good on them for doing that. But is it enough? Has the damage been done? It is a well established rule of media information that fewer people see the correction or retraction of incorrect information than see the initial incorrect information. Which means there are people out there who believe this boy died because WaPo incorrectly told them that, even though they sent out a correction. Did they simply not care to check that their information was correct before they published? If they didn’t, that’s because they aren’t concerned about making sure their information is correct because there really aren’t any consequences for incorrect information. There’s no incentive to double and triple check information to make sure it’s right.

Their incorrect information can have a profound impact on society. It’s dangerous and they need to be held accountable. It’s getting ridiculous.