Have they no shame?
This thoroughly debunked trash is what passes for news at WTRF in Wheeling
A screen shot of Wheeling WTRF’s website late this afternoon:
Please note #5 under trending stories:
Biden’s Daughter alleges sexual abuse in diary
Here is the beginning of the story by WTRF’s Karen Compton:
(WTRF) Shocking sexual allegations are emerging from the reported diary of Ashley Biden, President Joe Biden’s daughter.
According to the DailyMail.com, Ashley Biden, a drug addict, left her personal diary under a mattress in a Palm Beach, Florida halfway house where she stayed during a rehab stint. The diary reportedly details her drug abuse, sex addiction and her being “hypersexualized.”
Ashley Biden also recounts times she showered with her father when she was young, something she allegedly wrote was “probably not appropriate,” says DailyMail.com.
‘I remember having sex with friends @ a young age; showers w/ my dad (probably not appropriate)’
. . . . Stay with 7News and WTRF.com for updates to this developing story.
Despite what the conclusion of the article states, this is not a “developing story” – it was thoroughly debunked when it first appeared on Facebook in 2022. Here is the fact-checking site, Snopes’ headline:
No Evidence Ashley Biden Said She Feared Her Father 'Coming in the Shower' with Her
With this sub-headline:
The alleged quote has been circulating online for months without a shred of evidence to support it.
(See also fact-checker Politifact for a similar conclusion leading to Facebook's effort to flag it as misinformation and false news.)
In researching this post, I found that this was not the first time that WTRF has pushed this story. This same story appeared in 2022 and if you look closely under the story’s byline, you can see a June 2022 byline. (Compton’s article was also referenced in a couple of Twitter posts last summer.)
How about it, WTRF, and for that matter, Nexstar Media Group: Is posting, reposting and then highlighting this kind of filth what you stand for? If so, you’re an embarrassment to journalism.
Note: Special hat tip to reader "a" for alerting me to this story.
