The Associated Press removed a post on X that claimed Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance had urged the public to Accept school shootings as “a fact of life.”
The news service ran a partial quote after the Ohio senator's speech. Massacre at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia.who left Four people were killed and nine were injured on wednesday
“J.D. Vance says school shootings are a ‘fact of life,’ and calls for better security,” the AP posted on the social media platform Thursday.
Several left-wing media outlets ran similar headlines, including The New York Times. published an article With the headline: “Vance calls school shootings a grim fact of life and supports increased security.”
AP's post on X was soon flooded with angry responses, accusing the news agency of taking his comments out of context.
Critics said Vance's full statement was: “I don't like that it's a fact of life. But if you're a psychopath and you want headlines, you'll realize that our schools are easy targets. And we have to increase security in our schools.”
In a follow-up post, the AP revised its headline, writing: “J.D. Vance said he is saddened that school shootings are a ‘fact of life’ and said the U.S. needs to tighten security to prevent more massacres like this week’s shooting in Georgia, which left four dead.”
In the same thread, the AP clarified its initial statement. “This post replaces an earlier post that was removed to add context to Vance's partial quote.”
Zaid Jilani, a freelance journalistposted an item in response to the original AP link urging the wire service to change the headline.
“I considered the AP a reliable, straight-forward place to report news,” Jilani wrote on X.
“Stories like this where they're engaging in this kind of clickbait … is the AP just a tabloid now? It was very unprofessional.”
The Post has sought comment from the AP.
Vance's spokesman, William Martin, said, AP reprimandedSpeaking to Fox News Digital, he said: “This is yet another case of the fake news media shamelessly lying about a Republican politician.”
“Senator Vance said the exact opposite of what the Associated Press claimed,” Martin told Fox News Digital, adding: “It should be no surprise that the AP has lost whatever credibility it gained years ago, because they can literally lie about anything to advance the Democrats.”
Martin said Vice President Kamala Harris has “called for removing all police officers from schools, which puts children across America at risk.”
“This is yet another example of how Kamala Harris’s weak, failed and dangerously liberal agenda makes her unfit for office,” Martin said.
The Post has sought comment from the Harris-Walz campaign.
