NBC reporter returns after extended absence over retracted Paul Pelosi story
NBC's Miguel Almaguer returned to the air on Monday after more than five weeks away, with no explanation from the network.
NBC News has been at the center of several media controversies in the closing months of the year, including two apparently significant journalistic errors causing correspondents to be either ridiculed or removed from the airwaves altogether.
In early December, NBC News issued a correction after initially reporting that President Biden had the option to receive Marine veteran Paul Whelan, instead of WNBA star Brittney Griner, in a prisoner swap with Russia. The Kremlin received notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death."
Later, the article was edited to read that Russia "…ultimately gave the White House the choice of Griner or no one after different options were proposed," drastically altering the original story.
NBC SILENT AFTER RETRACTING PAUL PELOSI REPORT UNDER MYSTERIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
Viktor Bout and Brittney Griner (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong | and Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
"An earlier version of this article misstated the choice the Biden administration was given over hostages. It was to swap for Griner or no one, not a choice between Griner or Whelan," NBC News said in a correction added to the piece.
The major correction was the second in as many months that seemed to at first buck established media narratives.
A month earlier, NBC News retracted a story that suggested Paul Pelosi may not have been in imminent danger when he was attacked at his home in San Francisco. The report was pulled after it began to go viral, particularly with regard to its claim that Pelosi answered the door for police and didn't immediately seek protection outside the home, despite the intruder still being inside. The network didn’t offer an explanation other than a brief note suggesting the story didn’t meet the company’s standards.
NBC News correspondent Miguel Almaguer, the employee behind the report on Nov. 4, was pulled from the air and did not return for five weeks.
He was reportedly suspended, but NBC wouldn’t admit it on the record, and a local NBC affiliate in San Francisco reported essentially the same information as Almaguer but did not retract the story. People close to the situation at NBC heard that Almaguer’s source was "biased," but NBC has refused to explain what, if anything, was incorrect with his report.
NBC REPORTER WHO VANISHED AFTER RETRACTED PAUL PELOSI REPORT RETURNS TO AIR
Miguel Almaguer quietly returned to air on Monday after a mysterious multi-week absence following his explosive Paul Pelosi report being retracted without explanation. (Screenshot/NBC News)
During his absence, Almaguer vanished from Twitter and did not respond to requests for comment. Even his agent declined to speak about what had transpired.
NBC has still not made a statement on air about Almaguer's significant absence.
It wasn't only mistakes that plagued NBC down the stretch of 2022; in one instance, a reporter's mere observations led to her being criticized by not just industry colleagues, but within NBC itself.
NBC News correspondent Dasha Burns reported that then-Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman had difficulty understanding the questions and engaging in small talk during their one-on-one interview in October.
"We had a monitor set up so he could read my questions because he still has lingering auditory processing issues as a result of the stroke, which means he has a hard time understanding what he’s hearing." Burns said following their conversation.
She added that has "some challenges" with speech and "had a hard time understanding" their conversation, due to the stroke he suffered earlier this year.
Following the interview, Burns spoke with NBC "Today" co-host Savannah Guthrie, who pushed back, citing other journalists who have claimed Fetterman seemed fine to them during remote exchanges. Burns, however, was adamant that, in her experience, Fetterman had trouble understanding her and her crew until questions were closed captioned for him to read during their interview.
Dasha Burns interviews John Fetterman for NBC News. (NBC News/YouTube)
Burns was subsequently vilified by media peers, shaming her as "ableist." Vox's Kara Swisher called Burns' claim "nonsense" and far-left podcast host Molly Jong-Fast declared Fetterman "understood everything" during their individual sit-down chat.
Others defended Fetterman, such as Burns’ own NBC News colleague Stephanie Ruhle. At one point, Fetterman’s own wife called for a network apology and "consequences" for the NBC correspondent.
Yet, behind the scenes, one MSNBC insider praised Burns’ work and told Fox News Digital that some within NBC had been "pathetic" with their criticisms of Burns—clearly showing their bias toward Fetterman. A former NBC News producer added that they believed the criticism directed at Burns highlights hypocrisy at the network.
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NBC News stood by Burns in a comment to Fox News Digital at the time.
After Fetterman engaged in a widely panned debate performance against Republican Mehmet Oz in late October, where he consistently struggled to answer questions clearly or deliver clear answers, some in the media asserted that Burns deserved an apology for the initial sharp ridicule directed at her reporting.
NBC News did not respond to Fox News Digital when asked to comment on the recent controversies at the network.
Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.
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