ABC News suspends reporter after faulty Flynn report

ABC announced on Saturday that it was suspending ABC News reporter Brian Ross after the network was forced to correct his report saying former national security adviser Michael Flynn would testify against President Trump. 

“It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience — these are our core principles. We fell short of that yesterday. Effective immediately, Brian Ross will be suspended for four weeks without pay,” the network said in a statement.

{mosads}Ross’s suspension comes after ABC initially reported on Friday that Flynn would testify that Trump directed him during the campaign to make contact with Russian officials. 

Stocks plunged shortly after the report was put out. 

The network soon issued a “clarification,” saying that Trump had asked Flynn during the campaign “to find ways to repair relations with Russia and other hot spots,” but drew backlash from conservatives and media figures for not calling it a “correction.”

.@ABC “news” owes it viewers an apology. Calling false reporting a “clarification” is a cop out and just another reason for the decline in trust of the media

— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) December 1, 2017 

Astonishing. The story moved markets, set off a media frenzy, suggested worst possible outcome. This is called a massive correction, or retraction, not clarification. https://t.co/uVUamf4jYY

— Jim VandeHei (@JimVandeHei) December 1, 2017 

This isn’t a clarification, it’s a huge correction and one that took hours to do. https://t.co/rYozu7x8Kl

— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) December 1, 2017

ABC later issued a statement calling it a “correction.”

CORRECTION of ABC News Special Report: Flynn prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians *during the transition* — initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria, confidant now says. https://t.co/ewrkVZTu2K pic.twitter.com/URLiHf3uSm

— ABC News (@ABC) December 1, 2017