The Independent falsely claimed that Kyle Rittenhouse shot three black men after he was acquitted of all charges Friday for shooting three white men in self-defense during the August 2020 Kenosha, Wisconsin, riots.
“Full story: Teenager who shot three black men with rifle found not guilty on all charges,” the Independent wrote in a bullet point on the main page of its website Friday. The error was quickly corrected, although the outlet did not publicly acknowledge or apologize for the mistake.
A depressing example of how the British media misreported the Kyle Rittenhouse trial as badly as the US media. This is the @Independent‘s report on the verdict.
‘Teenager who shot three black men…’ pic.twitter.com/VmSncAI417
— Stephen Daisley (@JournoStephen) November 19, 2021
The Independent then altered the page to correct the error, although the article linked to in the bullet did not include a correction note from the editor to acknowledge the mistake. The article’s SEO description still incorrectly stated that the three men who were shot were black as of Friday afternoon, but has since been updated.
The police shooting of Jacob Blake sparked the 2020 Kenosha riots. The current version of the Independent article mentioned that Blake was black, but did not acknowledge that the men Rittenhouse shot were white.
Rittenhouse’s trial polarized Americans along political lines, with numerous politicians and celebrities calling his acquittal racist.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald said that the same error had occurred in numerous Brazilian newspapers as well as in a Dutch publication Friday.
Another major Brazil news outlet last week. Where do you think they all get this from? How did news outlets around the world all make the same major mistake?
It’s because they relied on the US media, which purposely spread this racially inflammatory lie for 18 months. pic.twitter.com/tfHdJgmVje
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 19, 2021
This is an excerpt from the Daily Caller.
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