FALSE RUSSIA REPORT FORCES THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TO REFLECT ON

ITS STANDARDS
Leaked internal messages show how a series of misunderstandings and an apparent lack of protocol
led the agency to publish an erroneous news alert of a missile attack that could have set off a global
conflict.

BY CHARLOTTE KLEIN
NOVEMBER 23, 2022

Last week, the Associated Press sent out a news alert claiming that, according to a senior US
intelligence official, Russia was responsible for a fatal missile strike in Poland. It would have been a
severe escalation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and, given Poland's NATO membership, might've
prompted the alliance to wage a military response. However, the story—which the news
organization had transmitted to thousands of others around the world—was a false alarm, with
national security officials later saying that a single missile was fired by Ukrainian forces and had
veered off course into a Polish village located near the border. AP conceded as much the next day, in
a correction that replaced the initial story. 
But the fiasco didn't end there. On Monday, AP fired James LaPorta, the reporter who provided
anonymously-sourced material for the story, which turned out to be false. The disciplinary measure
was first reported by the Daily Beast, which noted that the information had been attributed to a
single source, despite AP’s policy that it “routinely seeks and requires more than one source when
sourcing is anonymous,” unless the “material comes from an authoritative figure who provides
information so detailed that there is no question of its accuracy.” A subsequent report in
the Washington Post offered more insight, revealing that LaPorta had told his editors that a senior
manager had already vetted the source of his tip, “leaving the impression that the story’s sourcing
had been approved.” But this was a misunderstanding; while the senior manager in question, Ron
Nixon, AP’s VP of news and investigations, had approved the use of the source in the past, Nixon
was reportedly unaware of this particular tip and story. 
That wasn’t the only internal mix-up that contributed to the blunder, as evidenced by screenshots of
Slack messages reported Tuesday evening by Semafor’s Max Tani. Prior to Semafor’s report,
the Post, too, reported that there was a “misunderstanding during the preparations of the erroneous
report,” but the screenshots posted by Semafor, time-stamps and all, offer a more comprehensive
look at the 10-minute scramble that led to AP’s massive error. One minute after LaPorta notified
editors of the tip he got, Lisa Leff, an editor on the European desk, asked whether additional
confirmation on the tip was needed before issuing an alert. “That call is above my pay grade,”
LaPorta replies. Another editor, Vanessa Gera, chimes in to say she “would vote” for issuing a
news alert, adding, “I can’t imagine a U.S. intelligence official would be wrong on this.” Then, Leff
asks LaPorta whether he’s in a position to put together an urgent story, to which LaPorta replies,
“I’m actually at a doctor’s appointment. What I passed along is all I know at the moment,” he says.
Another editor weighs in to say that it “should be ok” if the source was vetted by Nixon,
misinterpreting LaPorta’s earlier message. 
On Wednesday, AP spokesperson Lauren Easton said that “the story did not meet our standards,"
adding: "When our standards are violated, we must take the steps necessary to protect the integrity
of the news report. We do not make these decisions lightly, nor are they based on isolated
incidents." However, the firing of LaPorta, a former US Marine and longtime freelance reporter
who joined AP in April 2020, struck many journalists as rash, if not unwarranted. As it turns out, per
Semafor, LaPorta was actually suspended last Thursday, and after a review by AP was officially
fired on Monday. “But the fact that a story that theoretically could’ve triggered armed conflict
between NATO and Russia required less than ten minutes, one anonymous source, and just over a
dozen Slack messages for the wire service to publish suggests a systemic editorial failure, not one
reporter’s blunder,” Tani wrote. On Tuesday, LaPorta told Semafor he would “love to comment but
I’ve been ordered by AP not to comment."
The AP’s own report on LaPorta’s firing suggested LaPorta isn’t the only staffer facing
repercussions, with David Bauder reporting that “there has been other disciplinary action taken,
according to the company, which did not give details Tuesday afternoon.”  It does appear that AP is
also approaching this as the kind of “systemic editorial failure” Tani described: According to
Bauder, the agency is reviewing its standards on the use of anonymous sourcing in light of what
executive editor Julie Pace called an “egregious” mistake. “Anytime that we have an error, and
certainly an error of this magnitude, we have to stop,” Pace said. “We have to make sure we have
the right policies when it comes to anonymous sources and reporting on sensitive information, and
we need to make sure that our staff is trained properly and has a clear understanding how to
implement these standards.”