One hour and thirty-eight minutes after the story moved across the wire, it was retracted. AP's McAuliffe flub shocks Va. press

For journalists, the final weeks of a heated political race can be a pressure cooker, especially in Virginia, where an extremely competitive press corps fights tooth and nail for every scoop. In an environment like that, even a trusted newsman and his editors can neglect doing their due diligence.

That is the best explanation anyone can offer for why Bob Lewis, the veteran Associated Press reporter, published an erroneous report Wednesday night that caused a major embarrassment for the wire service.


At 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday night, Lewis published an exclusive report for the AP alleging that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe had lied to a federal official investigating a death benefits scam.

( Also on POLITICO: AP misfire sparks Twitter backlash)

At first, the story seemed to have upended one of this year’s most contentious political races and knocked McAuliffe on his heels. Then, one hour and thirty-eight minutes after the story moved across the wire, it was retracted.

“The indictment did not identify McAuliffe as the ‘T.M.’ who allegedly lied to investigators,” The Associated Press stated.

The incident was an egregious error for the Associated Press, a worldwide organization that prides itself on its reputation for accuracy and thoroughness. In addition to getting its facts wrong, the initial report did not include a response to the accusation from the McAuliffe campaign, which did not “immediately” respond to a request for comment.

( Also on POLITICO: AP retracts story on Terry McAuliffe lie claim)

AP spokesman Paul Colford made no excuses for the error: “The initial alert moved on AP’s Virginia state wire at 9:45 p.m. The story was withdrawn one hour and 38 minutes later. That was an hour and 38 minutes too long,” he said, adding later that AP leaders were reviewing the incident.

The retraction sent shock waves throughout the political press corps late Wednesday night. More shocking still was the fact that Lewis, a highly respected veteran with two decades on the Richmond political scene, was responsible for the mistake.

“Bob is as honest, as straightforward, as fair as anyone I know. He’s a great reporter who never had a partisan bone in his body,” Michael Shear, The New York Times White House correspondent who spent more than five years in Richmond, told POLITICO.

( Also on POLITICO: Terry McAuliffe investment looks bad, but will voters care?)

“He’s really a very careful guy, a very thorough guy. I was very surprised — it’s not the kind of thing you see when you think of Bob,” Shear added. “Bob is the dean of the press corps down in Richmond, the guy that sets the tone.”

Amy Gardner, The Washington Post’s local politics editor, said she had known Lewis for almost 20 years and respected him immensely.

“I don’t know what happened, and it makes it harder to understand what happened given what I know about Bob, because he has always been the most aggressive, straight-shooting, tough-as-nails reporter.”

Meanwhile, Lewis was quick to issue an apology on Wednesday — “The error was mine and I take responsibility for it,” he wrote — and on Thursday published a long, detailed report on McAuliffe’s investments with the Rhode Island estate planner who profited from death benefits in question.

( PHOTOS: Terry McAuliffe’s career)

Lewis declined POLITICO’s request for an interview and Colford declined to answer questions about what caused the erroneous report, nor whether Lewis would receive consequences for his mistake.

“We don’t discuss personnel matters, like most companies,” Colford said. “You can be sure, however, that AP news leaders are reviewing what transpired.”

Far from condemning Lewis’s report, the McAuliffe campaign referred to it as “water under the bridge.”

(In a long statement, Ken Cuccinelli campaign strategist Chris LaCivita called the report about McAuliffe’s investments “deeply troubling” and “yet another glaring example of Terry McAuliffe doing business with highly dubious individuals.”)

For media ethics watchdogs, that answer might leave something to be desired.

If the indictment did not identify McAuliffe as the “T.M.” who allegedly lied to investigators, did Lewis just assume “T.M.” was McAuliffe without further evidence? And did he give McAuliffe’s campaign — which shot down the report almost immediately after it was published — ample time to respond?

“I wonder if Bob Lewis just assumed that the ‘TM’ was Terry McAuliffe without checking with McAuliffe’s campaign?” Patrick Pexton, the former Washington Post ombudsman, told POLITICO. “That would be a huge breach of basic reporting standards and it’s hard to believe a veteran AP reporter would do that.”

Whatever the reason, reporters were still reeling from the news the next day, wondering what the long-term affect this would have on the AP’s reputation.

“I never would’ve imagined when I first tweeted the AP blast that the story would end up being retracted. Obviously every journalist holds the AP in the highest regard. Their reporting is considered to be the standard,” Ryan Nobles, the political reporter and anchor for NBC12 WWBT Richmond, told POLITICO.

Associated Press staffers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described it as an embarrassment for the organization. On Twitter, Tom Jackman, the Northern Virginia correspondent for The Washington Post, called it a “giant error by the AP.” Greg Mitchell, a writer for The Nation, called it a “tremendous black eye” for the wire service. John Podhoretz, the New York Post columnist, described it as “mind-blowingly irresponsible.”

Pexton called the report “a significant mistake” and said that while news organizations “should decide on their own disciplinary measures … clearly some sanction is appropriate.”

Dean Wright, the former global ethics and standards editor at Thomson Reuters, said it was “important that the news organization be transparent — and quickly — about how the error was made.”

“AP admirably took responsibility for the error, but in a world where the news cycle is measured in seconds, you will never be able to do that quickly enough,” he said.

For the McAuliffe and Cuccinelli campaigns, the larger question is what effect, if any, this screw-up will have on the gubernatorial race.

Nobles, the anchor for NBC’s Richmond affiliate, predicted “a net positive for McAuliffe,” because it “clouds the original story which had the potential to be damaging without the AP charge.”

“What will probably not get the attention it normally would’ve is that McAuliffe admitted that he was questioned by investigators in the case,” Nobles said. “A similar admission by Cuccinelli in an interview with me turned into a huge issue during the campaign.”

Larry Sabato, the Virginia-based political scientist, saw it differently.

“By Monday, nobody will even remember it. So many things happen in a campaign, and there’s so much more time before the general,” Sabato said.

“McAuliffe has problems, but this isn’t one of them, nor do I think it’ll particularly help him,” he added. “Sure, he’ll get a little sympathy for being unfairly tarred, but it will also remind folks that he’s played fast and loose as a businessman. The pluses and minuses cancel each other out.”