NBC News Suspends Reporter for Retracted Paul Pelosi Story
In this week’s edition of Confider, we reveal that NBC News has benched the reporter whose retracted “Today” show report on the Pelosi attack embarrassed the network.
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty, Dave Malkoff/Flickr Creative Commons
This reporting appears as one of several scoops featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
NBC Today show correspondent Miguel Almaguer has been suspended pending an internal investigation after NBC News had to retract his reporting that inflamed right-wing conspiracy theories about the brutal assault on Paul Pelosi, Confider has learned.
In an on-air report that went viral soon after it aired Almaguer suggested Nancy Pelosi’s husband was not in danger when cops arrived at their San Francisco home.
“After a ‘knock and announce,’ the front door was opened by Mr. Pelosi. The 82-year-old did not immediately declare an emergency or tried to leave his home but instead began walking several feet back into the foyer toward the assailant and away from police,” Almaguer reported on the morning of November 4. “It’s unclear if the 82-year-old was already injured or what his mental state was, say sources.”
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Hours later, the report—which was based on an unnamed source seemingly contradicting the claims of both prosecutors and police—was retracted and video of the segment was scrubbed from NBC’s website. “This piece has been removed from publication because it did not meet NBC News reporting standards," NBC wrote in a note replacing the article.
Right-wing media figures immediately took the report and its retraction as proof of a politically motivated cover-up—after a week of grasping at various conspiracy theories to dismiss the assault, which left Pelosi with a cracked skull.
“We don’t comment on personnel matters,” NBC News spokesman Stephen Labaton told Confider when quizzed about Almaguer’s suspension. Almaguer did not respond to a request for comment.
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