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When WUSA Reporter Mikea Turner broke the news that 12-year-old African American Amari Allen was held down by 3 white boys as they cut off her deadlocks, it was a big story.

It was a story of black vs white and bullying and it did not take long for the story to go viral.

The problem was the story was false and the attack never happened.

Allen’s family says the 12-year-old cut her own hair and made up the story.

After the story turned out to be a hoax, WUSA management called a staff meeting to decide what they should do next?

The big problem was not only was Turner’s story wrong, but she stepped outside the boundaries of a Reporter and became an advocate.

The 12-year-old was brought into the WUSA studio where she was given gifts that Turner collected for her.

Turner used the “attack” as another reason that a law that she had been pushing for should be passed.

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WUSA Station Manager Micheal Valentine told the staff “We got sloppy” in talking about the station’s reporting. But, it seemed that WUSA decided the best way to handle this hoax was to same almost nothing and hoped that it went away.

WUSA who also plastered this kid’s face all over their station and website has now decided to no longer use her name because she is a minor. Talk about trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Turner spent a few days off from the station and when she returned, she was not humble or apologetic, she was more defiant. She told people that she did nothing wrong, she lashed out at people on social media that tried to call her out for the bad reporting.

She locked her Twitter account down:

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You would have thought that Turner would have been a bit more humble and admit her part in a story that turned out to be fake.

WRC Reporter Shomari Stone also reported the story and when it turned out to be wrong, he made sure that the retraction got a lot of play as well. His credibility took less of a hit, because he stood up and admitted to the mistake.

Also, Stone did not use the story to try and push the “crown act” or any other agenda. He reported the story, it was wrong and he fully admitted to it. No one likes making mistakes, but like the rest of us, Stone did and then he admitted to the mistake.

Turner is acting like all is good and she did nothing wrong. Is this her, or is this how WUSA Is telling her to act?

Locking down your social media never looks good.

WUSA just hoping the problem goes away is not the correct action.

Conservative media outlets like the Daily Caller and The Blaze are now covering the aftermath and using it as a chance to show how the “mainstream media” screws up. The Daily Caller says that Turner had done stories on this girl’s family in the past, talking about beauty products that they sold.

WUSA trying to just sweep the story under the rug is giving these outlets more fuel for the fire.

A number of people are calling for Turner to be fired.

I’m not sure that needs to happen, but something does.

There needs to be some accountability by WUSA, more than just the boss saying, “we were sloppy”. It might be more training? It might be explaining to the staff that you need to be a Journalist and not an advocate?

The bottom line is WUSA screwed up and they just want it to go away. This is not the way for a media outlet to act.

This story is not over, despite the fact that the Tegna station wants it to be.