Fox News retracts its story tying DNC staffer to leaks
A week after publishing a problematic account about the death of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich — an article that said Rich made contact with WikiLeaks before he was shot and killed in Washington, D.C. — Fox News retracted the story, saying it did not meet the organization’s editorial standards.
“The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting,” Fox said in a brief statement posted on its website Tuesday. “Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.”
The unsigned, 73-word “Statement on coverage of Seth Rich murder investigation” added: “We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted.”
Fox News and its Washington, D.C., affiliate, WTTG, reported last week that Rich had leaked 44,053 DNC emails and 17,761 attachments to a now-deceased WikiLeaks director. The stories immediately gained traction on social media and among conservative news outlets .
The Fox News story was originally published on May 16 and cited “investigative sources” in reporting that Rich had made contact with WikiLeaks some time before he was killed — a case that remains unsolved. Fox’s story quoted a private investigator, Rod Wheeler, who claimed there was an email exchange between Rich and WikiLeaks — and suggested that “the answers to who murdered Seth Rich sits on his computer on a shelf at the DC police or FBI headquarters.”
By Tuesday afternoon, however, the story was gone from the site.
Rich’s family said it was grateful for the story’s removal.
“The family would like to thank Fox News for their retraction on a story that has caused deep pain and anguish to the family and has done harm to Seth Rich’s legacy,” the family said through a spokesman. “We are hopeful that in the future that Fox News will work with the family to ensure the highest degree of professionalism and scrutiny is followed so that only accurate facts are reported surrounding this case.”