The Associated Press issued a correction Friday after it filed a misleading alert about a judge’s ruling in a gay-marriage case. “The AP initially misunderstood the scope of the judge’s statement,” the news coop tells Poynter in an email.
The AP has issued a correction:
CORRECTION: Judge says he will order Ohio to recognize out-of-state gay marriages. (Previously said judge would strike down Ohio ban.)
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 4, 2014
Earlier, BuzzFeed legal editor Chris Geidner called out AP after the alert went out:
BREAKING: Federal judge says he will issue ruling that will strike down Ohio's ban on gay marriage.
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 4, 2014
The @AP is AGAIN wrong about a marriage case decision. More to come …
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 4, 2014
The Ohio case at issue is a marriage recognition case, not a full marriage equality case, so there will not be a full marriage ruling.
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 4, 2014
For those confused by the @AP, here's my report on Ohio & marriage: http://t.co/aXgNzaaOPV
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) April 4, 2014
The first AP tweet was retweeted more than 1,000 times.
About 25 minutes after, the AP tweeted again, indicating that the judge’s ruling will force the state to recognize marriages of gay couples who married elsewhere, but won’t force the state to allow gay couples to marry in Ohio. In other words, the ruling will strike down a ban on recognizing gay marriage, not a ban on gay marriage itself.
MORE: Federal judge says he will issue ruling that will force Ohio to recognize gay marriages: http://t.co/Qw9bWuvmqd
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 4, 2014
Breaking News was among the outlets to refrain from repeating the AP’s news alert without further information. Instead, it issued an editor’s note around 12:50 p.m. EDT:
Editor’s note: The Associated Press is reporting that a federal judge says he will issue a ruling striking down Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban. However, according to reporters and legal experts, the validity of that report’s wording is unclear. We’ll update when we know more. – Aaron
At 1:05 p.m., Breaking News tweeted the news with the appropriate context — nuance that doesn’t always make it into initial reports about complicated legal decisions:
Judge says he will strike down Ohio's ban on gay marriage; ruling won't mean state has to allow couples to marry- @AP http://t.co/EghID0DwpN
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) April 4, 2014
But note: Even the first BuzzFeed News tweet about the impending ruling cited the same limited AP information and not its own reporter:
BREAKING: Federal judge says he will issue ruling that will strike down Ohio's ban on gay marriage – @AP
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) April 4, 2014
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