A watchdog organization that tracks conservative media, Media Matters for America, withdrew a story where it reported a Republican state senator in Texas talked on a white nationalist program.
The article published focused on state Sen. Bob Hall. It claimed that the conservative legislator had talked “on the program of a white nationalist, pro-Hitler outlet that denies the Holocaust.”
Once the story was published, Media Matters stated it had been informed that “the program in question — The Barnes Review History Hour (TBR History Hour) — had faked the interview, falsely claiming they had interviewed Hall by splicing in previous interviews Hall had given to other outlets and making it seem like he was responding to questions from TBR.”
“We have pulled the story and apologize for the error,” an editor’s note read. Eric Hananoki, the investigative reporter who wrote the report, confessed to being duped on Twitter.
“An apology: I wrote a story today stating that TX state Sen. Bob Hall went ‘on the program of a white nationalist, pro-Hitler outlet that denies the Holocaust.’ After posting, we were made aware the outlet faked the talk by splicing prior interviews. We’ve retracted the story,” Hananoki tweeted.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
