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The Big Lies › 2022 › File PF-0213
Retracted

USA Today Pulls 23 Stories Over Fabricated Sources

A USA Today breaking-news reporter published stories on topics including Texas's abortion ban and Ukrainian women in the war, quoting people the paper could not later verify.

Screenshot of the original report as published
Screenshot of the report as published: edition.cnn.com (archived copy, Wayback Machine). Tap to open the source.
Who it helped: Neither party

A newsroom integrity failure; some stories touched contested national issues such as the Texas abortion law.

What was reported

A USA Today breaking-news reporter published stories on topics including Texas's abortion ban and Ukrainian women in the war, quoting people the paper could not later verify.

What actually happened

A correction request led to an audit, which found some quoted people were not affiliated with the groups named and appeared to be fabricated, and that other quotes belonged to different people. USA Today removed 23 stories on June 16, 2022, and said the reporter had resigned.

The proof

USA Today's own audit and editor's note announcing the removals.

The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:

USA Today Pulls 23 Stories Over Fabricated Sources — Retracted. USA Today's own audit and editor's note announcing the removals. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/usa-today-removes-23-fabricated-stories/

Original reporting

Corrections, findings & records

Archived copies

Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.

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