WorldNetDaily reprinted a Jan. 10 article from something called Discern Report that claimed:
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley was dismissed by Mayor Karen Bass on Friday shortly after she publicly criticized city leadership for insufficient funding of the fire department. The decision to fire Crowley came hours after she gave an interview to Fox LA where she highlighted the severe impact of a $17.6 million budget cut on the department’s emergency response capabilities, particularly in the context of preparing for large-scale events like wildfires.
Just one problem: it wasn’t true. WND stole the story from a website called Discern Report, one of a network of right-wing/fake news aggregators and content mills operated by a far-right activist named J.D. Rucker. In his original report (below the update), Rucker claimed that his information came from “corporate media reports” — but no evidence of those reports was provided or linked to. At least WND had the good sense to go totally defamatory and use Rucker’s headline maliciously smearing Crowley a “diversity hire” and Bass a “Marxist”:
It eventually became clear even to WND that the story was false, but rather than admit its error and properly apologize, WND violated journalistic norms and simply replaced the false article with a different story — which it stole from the website of a Los Angeles TV station — stating that “The rumor that Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley was fired is false, according to Mayor Karen Bass’ office.” The URL stayed the same, so it still states that Bass was fired. WND also failed to disclose that among those spreading the rumor was … WND.
Rucker, meanwhile, whined in his update on the story:
What a mess. Now there are reports that she wasn’t really fired. Democrats across California in general and Los Angeles in particular can’t tell when they’re coming or going.
Rucker offered no evidence that Bass was fired in the first place, and he apparently made no effort to engage in routine verification, which means he’s blaming others instead of himself for the fake news he chose to publish (and, by extension, WND for republishing his fake news).
J.D. doesn’t seem to understand that this is the kind of thing that happens when your fake-news operation gets called out. He apparently has no journalistic standards, so he shouldn’t complain when he is made to look like a fool after being exposed for not having them. No wonder right-wing media isn’t trusted.