This will come as a real shock, but the newsrooms that misrepresented the findings of a global study on detained minors are not putting a lot of effort into correcting the record.
Of the major outlets that falsely reported this week that a United Nations study had found that there are an estimated 103,000 minors “currently detained” in migration-related U.S. detention, only the Associated Press hustled to set the record straight. That is a hell of a thing, considering these newsrooms also claimed that, under President Trump, the United States has “the highest rate” of detained minors anywhere in the world.
“UN expert corrects claim on kids in US migration detention,” reads a Nov. 19 Associated Press headline published almost immediately after the newsgroup retracted its initial story.
The “103,000” figure tossed around earlier this week comes from a U.N. study of the cumulative, not current, number of minors who passed through migration-related U.S. detention in 2015, back when former President Obama occupied the White House. The author of the U.N. study stressed this week that the number includes everything from individuals who were held for a day to those who were held for several months. He explained further that the U.N. study uses data from 2015 because it is the most recent information available.
National Public Radio, which retracted its bogus report on Nov. 19, dragged its feet getting a follow-up story to print. On Wednesday, nearly 24 hours after it notified readers that it would “post a revised article with more complete information as soon as possible,” it published an article reporting accurately on the U.N. study.
Agence France-Presse did not retract its faulty coverage of the U.N. study until early Thursday morning, despite claiming Tuesday that it would “withdraw” and “delete” its story. Unlike NPR and the Associated Press, AFP has yet to issue a follow-up article detailing the survey’s findings. It is unclear whether the newsgroup has plans to do so. A representative for AFP did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
Reuters, which published a story on Nov. 18 crediting the Trump administration for the U.S. having the “world’s highest rate of children in detention,” said it has no plans to issue a separate report detailing the findings of the global study of detained minors.
“The United Nations issued a statement on Nov. 19 saying the number was not current but was for the year 2015,” Reuters explained in a retraction notice to readers. Curiously, the note ends with this sentence: “No replacement story will be issued.”
I reached out to Reuters for an explanation, to which a representative responded, “Reuters decided to withdraw its story after the United Nations issued a statement on November 19 saying the number of children in detention was not current but was for the year 2015.”
I pressed again, noting that it seems newsworthy that the number of minors who passed through U.S. immigration-related custody surpassed 103,000 in 2015, according to the U.N.
“We decline to comment further,” the representative said, ending the conversation.
