(Credit: Fox News)
Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer, was fatally shot in Washington D.C. last July. Fox News claimed there was evidence to support a conspiracy theory that Rich was murdered because he secretly leaked DNC e-mails to WikiLeaks.
“For months, right-wing media outlets have floated unproven theories that Rich was the person who provided Wikileaks thousands of internal DNC emails, and that his death might have been connected with the supposed leak,” CNN’s Oliver Darcy reported.
Fox News’ story claimed there was evidence Rich had been in touch with WikiLeaks. However, the network’s claims were attributed to Rich family private investigator Rod Wheeler and an anonymous “federal source.” Problem is, as Wheeler told CNN, he didn’t have any evidence of such a claim. In fact, he said the Fox News’ reporter provided him with the information.
Rich’s brother, Alex Rich, sent a letter of complaint to Fox News calling it a “travesty that you would prompt false conspiracy theories and other people’s agendas rather than work with the family to learn the truth,” Philly.com reported.
Today, Fox News posted a retraction on its website.
The retraction reads:
“On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.
“We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted.”
“The family would like to thank Fox News for their retraction on a story that has caused deep pain and anguish to the family and has done harm to Seth Rich’s legacy. We are hopeful that in the future that Fox News will work with the family to ensure the highest degree of professionalism and scrutiny is followed so that only accurate facts are reported surrounding this case.”
