The Associated Press was criticized on Thursday for its online posts regarding the verdict against the Michigan man who shot and killed 19-year-old Renisha McBride, the Huffington Post reported.
In reporting on 55-year-old Theodore Wafer's conviction on second-degree murder charges for killing McBride out of "fear," the AP posted this update on Twitter:
None of the AP's three tweets to its story on Wafer's conviction, in fact, mentioned McBride by name:
The framing of the AP's updates was quickly blasted by other Twitter users, leading to the creation of the #APHeadlines tag, which fueled both mocking impersonations of "AP style" and a critique of examples of racial bias in journalism:
This is an actual example of @AP reporting. Retweet to fight journailistic racism. #APheadlines pic.twitter.com/1jMn0LxfXV— Nostradeptus (@adept2u) August 7, 2014
RT @AP: Man's Front Door Files Lawsuit Against Family of #RenishaMcBride for Aggravated Assault of Knocking #APheadlines— Dr. Goddess (@drgoddess) August 7, 2014
BREAKING: Woman violently beats Police officer's fist with her face. #APHeadlines
— Elon James White (@elonjames) August 7, 2014
Too bad we don't have to make all these up! #APHeadlines pic.twitter.com/sEQT3cQCxj
— Oshawn Jefferson (@etwom) August 7, 2014
Unruly Bus Passenger Removed by Law Enforcement Officials #APHeadlines pic.twitter.com/kZueUDyigj— NIGris Elba (@hosienation) August 7, 2014
*Sigh* Why do we think perhaps racism is still a problem. #APHeadlines pic.twitter.com/BDAljValp6— Oshawn Jefferson (@etwom) August 7, 2014
The AP has not released a statement on its earlier tweets, but appeared to have deleted most of them in favor of this modified update:
Jury convicts Michigan man in killing of unarmed woman on his porch (rewords language from previous tweet): https://t.co/2nyobBY4Fx— The Associated Press (@AP) August 7, 2014
Thursday's incident marks the AP's fourth online gaffe in three weeks. As the Post reported, the most recent incident was a tweet last week regarding a bombing in Gaza that killed 15 people that included the phrase, "Ticket me Elmo." An AP spokesperson subsequently said the agency was "reviewing [its] procedures" following the mistake.
[h/t The Urban Daily]
