# ABC News shit the bed by publishing fake news on Friday. They know it too. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598 "2017-12-05T02:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/61 "2017-12-05T16:10:16Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Here you go. Wayback Machine Nov 16 18:57:15 GMT (10:57 am Pacific) > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171116185715/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171116185715/http://www.msnbc.com/) > First story. Nice catch! ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/62 "2017-12-05T16:21:39Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > … The fact that you can hunt until you find a time when Al Franken wasn’t on the main page doesn’t impress me in the least. I didn’t “hunt” at all. It was the morning after the story broke, and I thought the juxtaposition of the three major cable news networks’ front page headlines at the time was interesting. > [@running\_coach](#): > > Here you go. Wayback Machine Nov 16 18:57:15 GMT (10:57 am Pacific) > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171116185715/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171116185715/http://www.msnbc.com/) > First story. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Nice catch! Except that my post was on the 17th, not the 16th. Here, [try this one](https://web.archive.org/web/20170517171059/http://www.msnbc.com/), which, I think is the snapshot preceding my post. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/63 "2017-12-05T16:21:50Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It doesn’t “really outrage” me. Like I said in the OP, I thought it was “interesting”. And actual fake news from Trump is what? Boring? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/64 "2017-12-05T16:28:31Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I didn’t “hunt” at all. It was the morning after the story broke, and I thought the juxtaposition of the three major cable news networks’ front page headlines at the time was interesting. > > Except that my post was on the 17th, not the 16th. Here, [try this one](https://web.archive.org/web/20170517171059/http://www.msnbc.com/), which, I think is the snapshot preceding my post. As **Czarcasm** pointed out, MSNBC deals with current breaking stories. They had the story when it broke but it was pushed down as other stories took it’s place. However, it was covered at the time it broke. There are also plenty of other stories on Franken’s mess on MSNBC so you can’t claim it was ignored or buried, they have a different way of handling news than others. That example I gave of Fox was 20 minutes after the Flynn story broke but they hid it far down the page and made it as inconspicuous as possible while headlining a many months old story. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/65 "2017-12-05T16:34:47Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > As **Czarcasm** pointed out, MSNBC deals with current breaking stories. They had the story when it broke but it was pushed down as other stories took it’s place. However, it was covered at the time it broke. > There are also plenty of other stories on Franken’s mess on MSNBC so you can’t claim it was ignored or buried, they have a different way of handling news than others. > That example I gave of Fox was 20 minutes after the Flynn story broke but they hid it far down the page and made it as inconspicuous as possible while headlining a many months old story. Admittedly, I don’t spend much time perusing the headlines of MSNBC, so perhaps you’re right. Has your experience been that stories damaging to Trump / Republicans also fall completely off the front page within a matter of hours? (don’t worry, it’s not a gotcha, I’m not going to try to dig up examples where this might not be true, I’m genuinely just soliciting an opinion from someone who probably reads MSNBC more than I do). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/66 "2017-12-05T16:36:08Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Except that my post was on the 17th, not the 16th. Here, [try this one](https://web.archive.org/web/20170517171059/http://www.msnbc.com/), which, I think is the snapshot preceding my post. That’s from _May!_ These are from the morning of 17 November. > **[MSNBC — Breaking News, Top Stories, & Show Clips](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117065702/http://www.msnbc.com/)** > > Breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe & more. > **[MSNBC — Breaking News, Top Stories, & Show Clips](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117095713/http://www.msnbc.com/)** > > Breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe & more. And, presumably, the last actual snapshot prior to your post. > **[MSNBC — Breaking News, Top Stories, & Show Clips](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117130442/http://www.msnbc.com/)** > > Breaking news and in-depth analysis of the headlines, as well as commentary and informed perspectives from The Rachel Maddow Show, Morning Joe & more. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/67 "2017-12-05T16:36:29Z")
[This MSNBC front page from the 17th](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117031842/http://www.msnbc.com/) has two different stories about Franken. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/68 "2017-12-05T16:38:30Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > That’s from _May!_ > > These are from the morning of 17 November. > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171117065702/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117065702/http://www.msnbc.com/) > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171117095713/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117095713/http://www.msnbc.com/) > > And, presumably, the last actual snapshot prior to your post. > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171117130442/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117130442/http://www.msnbc.com/) Isn’t that…interesting. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/69 "2017-12-05T16:39:09Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I don’t know who you’re referring to in using the term “the right”. I myself am on the right, and while I think the MSM is definitely biased to the left, it’s not to the point of standing by egregiously false news on subjects that will obviously come to light. > > The bias manifests itself in much subtler ways, e.g. in choice of subjects to report on, in emphasis and tone, and in interpretation of ambiguous evidence. OK, perhaps my choice of words should have been finer. Perhaps “Trumpists” would be better? From my observation, and that includes the president, there is an attempt to label MSM, as a whole, as “fake news.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/70 "2017-12-05T16:40:08Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Admittedly, I don’t spend much time perusing the headlines of MSNBC, so perhaps you’re right. Has your experience been that stories damaging to Trump / Republicans also fall completely off the front page within a matter of hours? (don’t worry, it’s not a gotcha, I’m not going to try to dig up examples where this might not be true, I’m genuinely just soliciting an opinion from someone who probably reads MSNBC more than I do). Actually, I don’t go to MSNBC, I prefer to read stories rather than watch a video. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/71 "2017-12-05T16:41:27Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > The only nitpick I would have with this is the word “quickly”. I saw the tweet soon after it went out and heard of the correction by that evening. Looking it up, it sounds as though Ross had issued a clarification/retraction the night of the error. Granted “quickly” is a subjective term but that qualifies in my book. By way of comparison, Fox left that Seth Rich story up for days and then quietly removed it without apology or comment. By my thinking, ABC screwed up in its reporting but did fine in its accountability and response. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/72 "2017-12-05T16:42:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > OK, perhaps my choice of words should have been finer. Perhaps “Trumpists” would be better? From my observation, and that includes the president, there is an attempt to label MSM, as a whole, as “fake news.” I like “Trumpeteers”, really fits the childishness. They wear MAGA hats instead of mouse ears. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/73 "2017-12-05T16:43:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Perhaps “Trumpists” would be better? > [@Skywatcher](#): > > I like “Trumpeteers”, really fits the childishness. They wear MAGA hats instead of mouse ears. MAGAts. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/74 "2017-12-05T16:45:53Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I saw the tweet soon after it went out and heard of the correction by that evening. Looking it up, it sounds as though Ross had issued a clarification/retraction the night of the error. Granted “quickly” is a subjective term but that qualifies in my book. > > By way of comparison, Fox left that Seth Rich story up for days and then quietly removed it without apology or comment. By my thinking, ABC screwed up in its reporting but did fine in its accountability and response. You have to remember, that issuing a retraction is a sign of fake news. > [@Turek](#): > > MAGAts. That’s perfect. I am amazed I have not seen it before. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/75 "2017-12-05T16:47:44Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > MAGAts. I’ve been using “Trumpettes” since he began his run. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/76 "2017-12-05T16:48:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’ve been using “Trumpettes” since he began his run. I tend toward “sTrumpets”. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/77 "2017-12-05T16:53:21Z")
The more virulent ones are Trumpcucks since they seem to be the only ones who accept “cuck” as an insult. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/78 "2017-12-05T17:09:41Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > That’s from _May!_ > > These are from the morning of 17 November. > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171117065702/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117065702/http://www.msnbc.com/) > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171117095713/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117095713/http://www.msnbc.com/) > > And, presumably, the last actual snapshot prior to your post. > [https://web.archive.org/web/20171117130442/http://www.msnbc.com/](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117130442/http://www.msnbc.com/) Thanks. I’m obviously an amateur operator of the Wayback Machine. I got the impression, from **running coach** that the times on the site are given in GMT. I’m in Utah, Mountain Standard Time, GMT -7. I dug into this a bit more, because I distinctly remember going to their homepage that morning and doing the search, and not finding any results. In looking through the archives, it looks like all mention of ‘Franken’ actually fell off the front page (or at least the portion of the front page that is loaded automatically) sometime between the [18:03](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117180324/http://www.msnbc.com/) and [19:35](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117193551/http://www.msnbc.com/) snapshots. The 18:03 one has a green link though. From their FAQ, I gather that that means they didn’t get a good archive at that point in time: > [@](#): > > Blue means the web server result code the crawler got for the related capture was a 2nn (good); Green means the crawlers got a status code 3nn (redirect); Orange means the crawler got a status code 4nn (client error), and Red means the crawler saw a 5nn (server error). Most of the time you will probably want to select the blue dots or links. So I guess we’d have to roll back to [the next-earliest snapshot, which was at 16:35](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117163539/http://www.msnbc.com/) (that should be 9:35 my time, two hours prior to my post, unless I’m screwing up the timezone conversion). So the story appears to have fallen off sometime between 9:35 and 12:35 (Mountain time), and my post was at 11:36. Conclusion: I’m once again pretty confident I didn’t mis-remember. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/79 "2017-12-05T17:33:00Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > It doesn’t “really outrage” me. Like I said in the OP, I thought it was “interesting”. I don’t know what I said that gave you a sense I was “really outraged”. The title of the thread? that \*\* ABC News shit the bed by publishing fake news\*\* ??? thats much more than just something you find ‘interesting’. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598/80 "2017-12-05T17:33:45Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > So I guess we’d have to roll back to [the next-earliest snapshot, which was at 16:35](https://web.archive.org/web/20171117163539/http://www.msnbc.com/) (that should be 9:35 my time, two hours prior to my post, unless I’m screwing up the timezone conversion). So the story appears to have fallen off sometime between 9:35 and 12:35 (Mountain time), and my post was at 11:36. > > Conclusion: I’m once again pretty confident I didn’t mis-remember. So, worst case is that they didn’t have the story when you checked? Not MSNBC’s fault that you didn’t look earlier. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-news-shit-the-bed-by-publishing-fake-news-on-friday-they-know-it-too/803598.md?page=5)