The Associated Press is feeling the pressure as an organization after the news agency published an attack on Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.
The article came under intense scrutiny after it was published on Thursday night, and key elements of the article have since fallen apart. Several U.S. senators, lawyers and other prominent conservatives are now publicly questioning whether the Associated Press would be held legally responsible if Moreno moves to sue the organization. There is.
The gist of the AP issue is:
In two separate reports, the Associated Press revealed that Moreno’s email account was used to create a sleazy Adult Friend Finder account more than a decade ago. The Moreno team clarified to The Associated Press before publication that the account was in fact created, but by Moreno’s intern at the time. The intern signed a document taking responsibility for creating the account and claimed it was created as a prank. Another executive at Mr. Moreno’s company said that an intern at the time had access to Mr. Moreno’s e-mail account and that his duties as an intern included regularly checking Mr. Moreno’s e-mail account. admitted that.
The Associated Press reported as well, but its story, both in the original two articles and in a social media post by AP reporter Brian Slodisco, who has a byline on both articles, casts great doubt on this explanation. I’m throwing it. In his social posts, Mr. Slodisco did not include this exculpatory evidence or a completely plausible explanation for why and how the account was created in the first place.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno attends the Columbiana County Lincoln Day Dinner in Salem, Ohio, Friday, March 15, 2024. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Additionally, as Breitbart News reported on Saturday evening, two original AP articles included an apparent attempt to further tie Moreno himself to an account that Moreno’s then-intern said was created as a prank. The phrase “geolocation data” was used in a similar attempt. The effort is to prove that “the account was set up for use in a portion of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and property records show Moreno’s parents owned the home at the time.”
The issue currently centers on AP’s use of the term “location data.”
On Saturday, the Adult Friend Finder founder came out publicly and revealed that the location information associated with an account created in 2008 on his site was based on the account creator’s self-reported postal code and latitude. I said it’s only longitude coordinates. This means that anyone who sets up an account can do so from anywhere in the world and will have the same location information since the account is based on the postal code entered by the user. Therefore, in reality, there is no “geolocation data” associated with this account, as the term is commonly understood or as defined in her AP proprietary style guide. It was.
When first confronted with these discrepancies on Saturday, Associated Press spokeswoman Lauren Easton responded to Breitbart News with a tweet thread from the Adult Friend Finder founder, explaining that the Associated Press did not, in fact, The account in question, which we confirmed did not have “geolocation data” and no associated location information, was actually based on a postal code manually entered by the account’s creator. Later, after publishing the Breitbart News article, Easton attempted to use the Associated Press’ official corporate communications account to deny her actions and demand corrections from Breitbart News. To set the record straight, Breitbart News updated its original article and published a complete screenshot of the entire exchange with Easton on Saturday, showing exactly what she communicated.
Now, late Saturday night and all day Sunday after Breitbart News’ investigation into the Associated Press story first appeared, top officials like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and Mike Lee Several prominent figures interviewed, including members of Congress (R-UT) and some leading lawyers, have raised questions about whether the Associated Press is legally responsible in this regard.
On Saturday evening, several senior conservatives criticized The Associated Press.
The Associated Press has admitted that its trash hit against Bernie Moreno was based on non-existent “geolocation” data. https://t.co/yJVnQjdJU7
AP needs to retract or at least correct its story. This is a major scandal.
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) March 17, 2024
Exclusive — Associated Press admits it doesn’t have “geolocation data” to back up Morenosmere
Lauren Easton, Associated Press communications director…. , “There is no ‘location data’ as his two previously published articles originally claimed.” Unbelievable!
https://t.co/SbxvJI5wTm— Sarah A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) March 17, 2024
🚨🚨🚨
EXCLUSIVE — The Associated Press admits it has no “geolocation data” to back up Bernie Moreno’s smearhttps://t.co/mtMjWqk3gZ
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 17, 2024
It’s official.of @ap We need to file a lawsuit now.
Media must face the consequences of deliberately publishing fake news. https://t.co/Ysz8BYVFzK
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 17, 2024
Vance sparked the incident early Sunday morning by tweeting a screenshot to AP’s corporate communications account that Easton had actually claimed to Breitbart News was originally owned by AP. It has been revealed that he said that he does not have “location information data.”
To defend your story, you point to threads that clearly show the opposite of your point.
“Geolocation data” is a term that has a specific meaning. Your reporter misused the term. Request correction. https://t.co/beSvFXVQuq pic.twitter.com/H0JPho8Dtk
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) March 17, 2024
Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of former President Donald Trump, later sent the dictionary definition of “geolocation” to The Associated Press and pointed out that what the AP published did not meet that definition.
The dictionary definition of “geolocation” is: Please provide evidence that “location data” exists on your account as you claimed, or correct your story.
And if no evidence can be produced, the only real question becomes whether there was this negligence or malice. @AP? https://t.co/lZMZZ6KubF pic.twitter.com/zGRzqdcu82
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 17, 2024
Others also criticized the AP for the mistake.
Lauren Easton said. Did you fire her?
— Raheem. (@Raheem Kassam) March 17, 2024
That’s malicious. The Associated Press is just one example of state media propaganda. https://t.co/GIs3S2AgYY
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) March 17, 2024
Look at the @AP Despite being completely destroyed by sloppy and unethical reporting, I had a surprisingly fulfilling weekend. https://t.co/cuv1Ghf6Sf
— Taylor Budowicz (@TayFromCA) March 17, 2024
@AP_CorpComm: Then stop talking and provide proof that you have geolocation. “Accurate and detailed reporting” means zero without receipts. Please show me the receipt.
— Jack Windsor (@jackwindsor) March 17, 2024
bring the action @AP ceased to exist. https://t.co/YmXJGPqbXX
— Greg Keller (@RGreggKeller) March 17, 2024
Meanwhile, Vance continued to heat up throughout the day.
The fact that the Associated Press used the term “location data,” which has no basis in fact, and the founder of the website in question refuted it, is a scandal for journalism. The fact that you refuse to issue a correction is defamation.
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) March 17, 2024
You can’t make this up. The Associated Press published easily verifiable false information. When asked for evidence, they cited Twitter threads that showed their reporting was wrong.
Why would the Associated Press lie about Bernie Moreno? Because they are afraid of him. Vote for Bernie Moreno on Tuesday! https://t.co/EAEAUxPtvf
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) March 17, 2024
Jonathan Turley, a leading constitutional lawyer, said the Associated Press could be voluntarily pursuing a serious lawsuit.
Republican candidate Bernie Moreno may file a lawsuit over what The Associated Press blasted as a “hit piece” on the eve of the Ohio primary. If Mr. Moreno files a lawsuit and gains access to discovery, it could be costly and embarrassing for the company. https://t.co/0W2IxrPRSr
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) March 17, 2024
Other lawyers have also commented on this point:
If the court finds such dishonorable conduct, @AP If it does not constitute actual malice, @berniemoreno We need to ask the court to overturn NYT v. Sullivan.
Sullivan single-handedly made false advertising a lucrative business model for the media. It’s a cancer in this country. https://t.co/6zrzCbyeGt
— Jonathan McPike (@JonathanMcPike) March 17, 2024
Vance then found a definition for “geolocation” in the AP’s style guide, which the senator said doesn’t match what the AP published in Moreno’s article.
The AP Style Guide geolocation definition is as follows: Given that the website founder’s and your own reports indicate that location-related metadata is not present, are you going to fix the hit piece, or are you going to fix the style guide? https://t.co/7nEWkvVe3x pic.twitter.com/1ATWw8xMzj
— JD Vance (@JDVance1) March 17, 2024
Other prominent conservative lawyers, such as Mike Davis, also emphasized this point.
The Associated Press ran a flimsy smear campaign against Bernie Moreno just days before the primary.
It claimed to have “geolocation data” to back that part up.
Not only did it turn out that wasn’t the case, but he defiled it by ignoring his own style guide that defines “geolocation.”
That’s real malice. https://t.co/YEiIQZtYEx
— 🇺🇸Mike Davis🇺🇸 (@mrddmia) March 17, 2024
And later in the day, Lee became the second U.S. senator to harshly criticize The Associated Press on the issue.
This is actionable defamation.
And because Mr. Moreno is a public figure, he must prove that the Associated Press acted with reckless disregard for the truth, based on the Supreme Court’s flawed 1964 decision in New York Times v. Sullivan. Even if there is, Mr. Moreno has a good chance of winning under that standard. https://t.co/DXGtYA3nnM
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) March 17, 2024
Meanwhile, other top conservatives and telecom industry experts pointed to the main problems currently facing the Associated Press:
I know a thing or two because I’ve been in the news industry for 40 years and have been involved in several fruitless defamation lawsuits for clients against dishonest media outlets.By violating your own style guide @AP He clearly acted with malicious intent. This can cost millions of dollars.
cub reporter @BrianSlodysko He will have to sell his Pokemon collection. https://t.co/ssQ4FQacw4
— Michael R. Caputo (@MichaelRCaputo) March 17, 2024
Even if this is only middlingly accurate, a shocking journalistic sin appears to have been committed by the Associated Press. What a sad downfall for a once admired institution. https://t.co/xQ7g4RGga8
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) March 17, 2024
Apparently, the AP is facing an issue internally as a result of:
I heard that executives at the Associated Press were dismayed by their own grave mistake.
They need to be prosecuted for this reckless attempt to interfere in an election. https://t.co/wXin0q2QlC
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 16, 2024
I spoke with a senior reporter from The Associated Press on Saturday. Can be confirmed. https://t.co/3PcPFFXOj9
— Michael R. Caputo (@MichaelRCaputo) March 17, 2024
It remains to be seen what will happen next, but the hurdles for a public official to win a defamation lawsuit are extremely high.
