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It is not OK for Fox to get it so wrong in Baltimore Monday
By David Zurawik contact the reporter – THE BALTIMORE SUN
Given its performance in Baltimore, I am starting to wonder if maybe Fox News should only do opinion and stay away from covering challenging news stories like the one still playing out on the streets of Baltimore.
I know that might sound extreme, but in the volatile situation that is Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, you would think the last thing any reporter or producer would do is report any act of violence, particularly a police shooting, that it had not absolutely confirmed and vetted several different ways.
But that’s just what happened Monday afternoon with Fox News reporting that police shot a black man in the back as he was running from them. It was on Fox air, Fox Twitter accounts and Fox online.
Mike Tobin reported the shooting from Pennsylvania and W. North Avenues for the channel. But what he thought he saw appears to have never happened.
“We screwed up,” anchor Shepard Smith said after police tweeted and explained that a man who was running from police threw a gun to the ground. Baltimore police said no shots were fired by law enforcement officers.
The weapon apparently discharged and the man then fell down. Police say they took the man in an ambulance to a hospital for observation.
“Mike Tobin thought he saw somebody get shot,” Smith told viewers. “… And what we have here is nothing.”
Now, you might think we should at least give Smith and Fox News credit for a fast, clean correction.
“On behalf of Mike Tobin and the rest of our crew there, and the rest of us at Fox News, I’m sorry for the error and glad we were able to correct it quickly,” Smith told viewers.
Source: https://consciousshift2012.wordpress.com/2015/05/05/it-is-not-ok-for-fox-to-get-it-so-wrong-in-baltimore-monday/
