USA Today ‘Fact Check’ Accuses Gold Star Parents Of Lying, Then Issues Massive Correction
September 5, 2021 in News by RBN Staff
After several Gold Star parents of servicemembers slain in last month’s Kabul airport bombing claimed that President Biden checked his watch several times during a ceremony to honor them, USA Today ‘fact checker’ Daniel Funke wasted no time refuting their eyewitness accounts – essentially accusing them of lying.
“i watched you disrespect us all 5 different times by checking your watch!!!,” wrote Gold Star mother, Shana Chappell (whose Facebook and Instagram accounts were ‘incorrectly deleted’ after she posted, and have since been restored).
Another Gold Star parent, Darin Hoover, said Biden looked down at his watch 13 times.
“I actually leaned into my son’s mother’s ear and said ‘I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time…’ I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever seen,” Hoover told Fox News.
Yet, USA Today’s Funke wrote that the claims were “partly false” because Biden checked his watch “only after” the ceremony – not during.
Except…
The following day, the paper issued a massive correction:
Corrections & Clarifications: This story was updated Sept. 2 to note that Biden checked his watch multiple times at the dignified transfer event, including during the ceremony itself. The rating on this claim has been changed from partly false to missing context.
In a Wednesday tweet, Funke said “I regret the error.”
In a subsequent tweet, he said “It’s easy to dunk on journalists when we get things wrong. I get it – to many, we’re just another name on a screen. But behind that screen is a person trying to do their best.“
Clearly Funke is the victim here.