The Associated Press is being criticized on Twitter for getting a fact-check wrong on a hot topic.
Christopher Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, detailed the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) request that the federal government crackdown on anti-critical race theory. Rufo highlighted the NSBA’s labeling of parental protests as “domestic terrorism.”
The Association Press quickly pushed back against the story, and issued a fact-check saying the NSBA “is not asking the Biden administration to label parents who protest school policies domestic terrorists.”
“Contrary to false claims circulating online, the National School Boards Association didn’t ask President Joe Biden to label protesting parents ‘domestic terrorists,’ and there’s no indication Biden or the Justice Department called them terrorists, either,” the AP tweeted.
The fact-check is easily disputed by the NSBA’s own letter, however, which asks the Biden administration to classify parent protests as “a form of domestic terrorism.” The letter also recommended prosecution of the parents under the “PATRIOT Act.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland responded to the letter and instructed the FBI to monitor such protest, citing violent “threats.”
Conservatives on Twitter slammed the AP for the incorrect fact-check.
“Fun fact: “AP” stands for ‘Activist Progressives,’” Christina Pushaw, press secretary to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, tweeted.
Others criticized the mainstream media’s previous insistence that critical race theory was not being taught in schools.
“Remember, three months ago the media was assuring you that no one was even teaching critical race theory,” conservative commentator Drew Holden tweeted.
Rufo said the AP never reached out to him for comment.
“The reporter reached out to the NSBA for comment, but did not reach out to me for comment, which is a violation of basic journalistic ethics and practices,” he tweeted. “It’s time for AP ‘fact checking’ editor @KarenMahabir to retract the story for its obvious bias and falsehood.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your local representative and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives.