{"id":2403737,"date":"2025-02-18T12:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T17:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ap-reporter-nailed-over-wild-lie-about-doge-trots-out-the-elons-a-nazi-narrative-in-desperate-attempt-to-distract\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T12:23:25","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T17:23:25","slug":"ap-reporter-nailed-over-wild-lie-about-doge-trots-out-the-elons-a-nazi-narrative-in-desperate-attempt-to-distract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ap-reporter-nailed-over-wild-lie-about-doge-trots-out-the-elons-a-nazi-narrative-in-desperate-attempt-to-distract\/","title":{"rendered":"AP Reporter Nailed Over Wild Lie About DOGE, Trots Out the &#8216;Elon&#8217;s a Nazi&#8217; Narrative in Desperate Attempt to Distract"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fap-reporter-nailed-over-wild-lie-about-doge-trots-out-the-elons-a-nazi-narrative-in-desperate-attempt-to-distract%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2403737&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u2064article discusses recent layoffs at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) following a serious incident involving American eagle Flight 5342 and a Black \u200dHawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport. It focuses on claims made by a former FAA employee, Charles\u200c Spitzer-Stadtlander, who alleged \u2063that he \u2063was fired in retaliation for criticizing tesla \u2062and X (formerly Twitter), \u2063both companies associated with Elon Musk. The employee asserted that he received harassment from an account claiming to \u2064represent a government efficiency department after\u2062 he \u2064called Musk a &#8220;Nazi&#8221; due to \u200dalleged\u2064 extremist gestures.<\/p>\n<p>The situation escalated when the Associated Press (AP) reported on the firings, initially linking them to\u2063 the controversy surrounding Musk \u200dwithout fully verifying \u200bthe claims. The AP later edited its\u2064 story, downplaying the connection and acknowledging \u200bthat Spitzer-Stadtlander&#8217;s assertions were largely unfounded, including the idea that \u2064a &#8220;Department of\u2063 Government Efficiency&#8221; had\u200d harassed\u2063 him.\u200d Transportation Secretary Sean \u2064Duffy \u200cstated that no critical safety personnel were laid off.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illegal-immigrant-detained-as-person-of-interest-in-rape-of-13-year-old-girl-at-park\/\" title=\"Undocumented Immigrant Held as Suspect in Assault of Teen at Park\">article highlights concerns<\/a> about the credibility of media reports, especially regarding \u2062the speed at which sensational stories are published without thorough fact-checking. It reveals a broader distrust in media, as indicated by a Gallup poll showing that people now trust the media\u200b less than\u200d Congress, which suggests ongoing issues with journalistic integrity.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>As the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency both come under media scrutiny for obvious reasons, it&rsquo;s not really surprising to find the Associated Press reporting on FAA layoffs coming right after the collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter just outside of Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s quite a different thing, however, for the Anglophone world&rsquo;s wire service of record to first claim that one of the fired FAA employees had begun receiving <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/three-cheers-for-cnn-left-wing-network-stands-by-controversial-guest-refuses-to-correct-false-report\/\" title=\"Three Cheers for CNN: Left-Wing Network Stands by Controversial Guest, Refuses to Correct False Report\">harassing messages<\/a> from &ldquo;the official DOGE page&rdquo; on his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sickening-video-shows-antifa-allegedly-stab-4-trump-supporters-in-washington-dc\/\" title=\"Sickening Video Shows Antifa ...ly Stab 4 Trump Supporters in Washington DC\">social media account<\/a> because of criticism of Tesla and X, both run by DOGE chair Elon Musk.<\/p>\n<p>And it&rsquo;s quite a different thing to note, a few days later, that the employee in question called Musk a Nazi because of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/fact-check-elon-musk-nazi-salute-trump-inauguration-rally\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pretty much debunked theory<\/a> that he intentionally gave a &ldquo;heil Hitler&rdquo; salute at a Donald Trump inauguration celebration and received a few harassing messages from a random account calling itself the &ldquo;Department of Government Efficiency,&rdquo; despite the fact that DOGE doesn&rsquo;t have a page.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and it&rsquo;s quite another thing still to change story No. 1 to story No. 2 via a stealth edit that wasn&rsquo;t acknowledged in the AP&rsquo;s corrected story.<\/p>\n<p>So, as you can probably guess, this is a story blown way out of proportion because of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/day-dc-crash-near-miss-reagan-national-airport-eerily-similar-details\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Washington,D.C., plane crash<\/a>; On Friday, probationary workers were informed via  that they had been terminated by the government. The employees, which numbered fewer than 400, included those who were involved in maintaining systems for &ldquo;radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance,&rdquo; a source told the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/doge-faa-air-traffic-firings-safety-67981aec33b6ee72cbad8dcee31f3437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AP<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy didn&rsquo;t specify what roles they had cut but said in a Monday statement, &ldquo;Zero air traffic controllers and critical safety personnel were let go.&rdquo; Another DOT official said Monday that it &ldquo;retained employees who perform critical safety functions.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>This is rather tame stuff, so the AP&rsquo;s Tara Copp relayed &mdash; absent too much fact-checking, I can only assume &mdash; a LinkedIn post by&nbsp; Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, telling of the horrid treatment he&rsquo;d received at the hands of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/democratic-senator-flips-elon-musks-doge-arrives-irs-building\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DOGE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The reason, one assumes, is because it allegedly showed the firings went beyond those on their probationary period deemed to be redundant.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;One FAA employee who was fired over the weekend suggested he was targeted for his views on Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, not as part of a general probationary-level sweep. Both are owned by Elon Musk, who is leading Trump&rsquo;s effort to cut the federal government,&rdquo; Copp&rsquo;s original take on the tale told by Spitzer-Stadtlander, now <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20250217144942\/https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/doge-faa-air-traffic-firings-safety-67981aec33b6ee72cbad8dcee31f3437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">archived<\/a>, read.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The official DOGE page started harassing me on my personal account after I criticized Tesla and Twitter,&rdquo; he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Less than a week later, I was fired, despite my position allegedly being exempted due to national security.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Spitzer-Stadtlander said he was supposed to be exempted from the probationary firings because the FAA office he worked in focused on national security threats such as attacks on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/elon-musk-blasts-broken-faa-system-as-spacex-launches-88-satellites\/\" title=\"... Blasts \u2018Broken\u2019 ... System As SpaceX Launches 88 Satellites\">national airspace<\/a> by drones,&rdquo; Copp noted in an archived version of the story published Monday.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;When DOGE fired me, they turned off my computer and wiped all of my files without warning,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>A true tale of DOGE gone wild and drunk with power, right? Omit the word &ldquo;true,&rdquo; and yes, that does pass muster. However, the AP is not in the business of writing Elon Musk fanfiction, and it turns out virtually all of that LinkedIn post, reported uncritically as fact, is not reliant on reality.<\/p>\n<p>An updated version of the story appeared later on Monday evening, along with some quotes from Spitzer-Stadtlander. Most of them were anodyne. He claimed that part of the reduction of force included employees at an early warning radar system for missiles in Hawaii, stating that the project and those involved in it are &ldquo;about protecting national security&rdquo; and he didn&rsquo;t &ldquo;think [the Trump administration] even knew what [the National Airspace System Defense Program] does, they just thought, &lsquo;Oh no big deal, he just works for the FAA.&#8217;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, the big change was about the whole DOGE story, which was buried after Spitzer-Stadtlander&rsquo;s quotes about what he thought about the national security implications of the terminations. Again, no evidence provided, which is slightly important when you read the next few paragraphs of the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/doge-faa-air-traffic-firings-safety-67981aec33b6ee72cbad8dcee31f3437\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">amended AP story<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>Spitzer-Stadtlander is Jewish and was angered by Musk&rsquo;s straight-arm gesture at Trump&rsquo;s inauguration. On his personal page he urged friends to get rid of their Teslas and X accounts in response.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Spitzer-Stadtlander said that post drew the attention of a account labeled &ldquo;Department of Government Efficiency,&rdquo; which reacted with a laughing emoji. Soon after, he saw the same account reacting to much older posts through his personal feed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>There are at least a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">half-dozen accounts labeled &#038;ldquo<\/a>;Department of Government Efficiency,&rdquo; and it&rsquo;s unclear who operates any of them. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote Monday on X, &ldquo;DOGE doesn&rsquo;t even have a page.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Well, gee, that&rsquo;s slightly different, isn&rsquo;t it?<\/p>\n<p>What&rsquo;s worse, again, is that this is a ghost edit. We now know that this guy was repeating the &ldquo;Elon is a Nazi&rdquo; trope on social media and some trolls who took out DOGE accounts did their trollish thing. He didn&rsquo;t even bother checking whether these accounts were legitimate, he just posted the whole story on his LinkedIn as the reason why he was terminated.<\/p>\n<p>Much more importantly, the Associated Press took this at <em>face value<\/em> and reprinted it without even finding out whether DOGE has a page or was involved in the terminations, which were done through the FAA.<\/p>\n<p>Then, when it turns out those quite salient facts were incorrect, they too fell back on &ldquo;Elon is a Nazi,&rdquo; insinuating heavily that Spitzer-Stadtlander&rsquo;s opinion is what led to his firing.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the outrage of simply reporting one disgruntled ex-employee&rsquo;s story on LinkedIn as gospel truth (the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/cnbc-journo-reports-axe-fallen-twitter-employees-confirms-rigged-mainstream-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">infamous interview with Messrs. Ligma and Johnson<\/a> is brought to mind) and then refusing to issue a correction, why on earth would they believe anything this man had to say, period, when his LinkedIn post turned out to be verifiably erroneous with a few simple searches?<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and by the way, this is the wire service currently whining about an assault on freedom of speech because it doesn&rsquo;t get a press pass to the White House briefing room since it&rsquo;s quarreling with the Trump administration over what official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/white-house-explains-battle-associated-press-much-just-gulf-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">government nomenclature for geographical features are<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ah yes. Because this is clearly an organization that&rsquo;ll be missed, based on what appears to be their editorial policy: Get caught. Begin stealth edit. Invoke race. Accuse smear victim of being a Nazi in so many words. Add more information that contravenes your first reporting. Don&rsquo;t acknowledge that the first reporting was wrong. Finally reveal the truth, but use someone else&rsquo;s quote to do that because you can&rsquo;t afford to personally speak truth that your friends won&rsquo;t like. Close out stealth edit. Leave no editorial note about edit &hellip; which is why it&rsquo;s stealth. Count on absolutely no one else in your sphere to call you out. Go to next D.C. cocktail party. Wash, rinse, repeat.<\/p>\n<p>It used to be that Congress was the least trusted institution in American life, without fail. And you can&rsquo;t say that reputation was unearned. However, in October, we had a new champion: According to Gallup, Americans now <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/512861\/media-confidence-matches-2016-record-low.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trust the media<\/a> less than our glad-handing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/band-aid-budget-bleed-congress-must-reject-continuing-resolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spendthrift<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/things-not-looking-good-swalwell-fang-fang-meets-editor-chinese-propaganda-paper\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">philanderers<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/512651\/americans-trust-local-government-congress-least.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Capitol Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Again, you can&rsquo;t say the merit wasn&rsquo;t warranted &mdash; and, if Monday&rsquo;s AP reporting is any indication, they keep racing to the bottom as if we&rsquo;ll suddenly start loving Congress and take away their booby prize for excellence in chicanery.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<style> \t\t\t \t\t\t.insticator-unit.type-commenting{margin: 0 10px 25px 10px}@media screen and (max-width:1060px){#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{margin: 0 auto 25px auto !important;}}#div-insticator-ad-cmt-1, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-2, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-3, #div-insticator-ad-cmt-4{height: 280px !important; width: 336px !important} \t\t<\/style>\n<div class=\"insticator-unit type-commenting\">\n<div class=\"insticator-ads\"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-1\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-2\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> \t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"insticator-ads additional\"> \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t<script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\t\t\tif ( ! getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tInsticator.ad.loadAd(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\"); \t\t\t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-3\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"div-insticator-ad-cmt-4\").remove() \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t<\/script> \t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Department of Government Efficiency face media scrutiny, it&#8217;s not unexpected that the Associated Press would report on FAA layoffs following the collision between American Eagle Flight 5342 and a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. However, it is quite another matter for a major news outlet to initially claim that one of the laid-off FAA employees received harassing messages from &#8220;the official DOGE page&#8221; on social media due to his criticism of Tesla and X, both owned by Elon Musk. A few days later, it was revealed that this employee had labeled Musk a Nazi over an unfounded theory regarding his gesture at a Trump inauguration event and had received some harassment from an account calling itself &#8220;Department of Government Efficiency,&#8221; despite DOGE lacking an official page. Furthermore, there was a stealth edit made to change the narrative without acknowledgment in AP&#8217;s revised story. This incident has been exaggerated due to its timing with the plane crash; on Friday, fewer than 400 probationary workers were informed they were terminated by the government. These included employees responsible for maintaining radar and navigational systems. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clarified that no air traffic controllers or critical safety personnel were let go.<\/p>\n<p>The AP&#8217;s Tara Copp reported uncritically about Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander\u2019s LinkedIn post detailing alleged mistreatment by DOGE after he criticized Tesla and X. He claimed he was targeted for his views rather than being part of general layoffs affecting probationary staff\u2014asserting he should have been exempt due to national security work related to drone threats against airspace.<\/p>\n<p>Later updates included quotes from Spitzer-Stadtlander but downplayed his claims about DOGE involvement in his firing after further investigation showed inconsistencies in his story regarding harassment from accounts claiming affiliation with DOGE\u2014accounts which may not even be legitimate as confirmed by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stating that &#8220;DOGE doesn\u2019t even have a page.&#8221; The AP\u2019s handling of this situation raises questions about their editorial integrity as they reported unverified claims without proper fact-checking while also failing to correct earlier inaccuracies transparently.<\/p>\n<p>This incident reflects broader issues within media trustworthiness; according to Gallup data released in October, Americans now trust media less than Congress\u2014a significant shift indicating growing skepticism towards journalistic practices exemplified by this case involving misleading reporting surrounding FAA layoffs amidst high-profile events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2403738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Associated-Press.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[50263,50577,23466,32192,32490],"class_list":["post-2403737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ap-reporter","tag-disinformation-2","tag-doge","tag-elon-musk","tag-media-bias"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Associated-Press.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403737"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2403741,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403737\/revisions\/2403741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2403738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}