Brian Williams Corrects NBC Charlie Hebdo Reporting

iMediaEthics publishes international media ethics news stories and investigations into journalism ethics lapses.

Menu

Home » Corrections»

iMediaEthics Illustration (Historic image)

NBC News’  Brian Williams issued an on-air correction just now for NBC News’ false reporting that one of the three suspects in yesterday’s attacks on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was dead.

“Starting overnight and into today, we’ve been correcting something we first reported here,” Williams said. “We were told by not one but two senior U.S. intelligence officials that this manhunt had ended last night with all three suspects either dead or captured. While these sources have been reliable in our previous reporting the intel they passed along to us last night turned out to not be correct.”

As iMediaEthics reported this morning, NBC News told Politico it would air a correction for its incorrect claims about the death of one of the suspects.

Within a couple of hours of NBC News’ story saying one of the suspects was dead, NBC News began to row back its reporting

Meanwhile a Fox News correspondent also reported last night — without listing any source– that one of the suspects was dead, Mediaite reported.

Fox News’ Greg Palkot said “We’re getting reports, unconfirmed reports, that the manhunt for the three people involved in this brutal attack might be in custody and dead.  There are reports that one was killed, and two are under arrest in the midst of that raid in Reims, which is a city about 90 miles away from here in Paris. We don’t have that confirmed.”

See all of iMediaEthics’ reports on Charlie Hebdo.

Submit a tip / Report a problem

Brian Williams Corrects NBC Charlie Hebdo Reporting

Share this article: