Fox News deletes story about NorCal woman who died in Afghanistan

A Fox News story about a Northern California woman who died whereas serving with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan has been deleted with no rationalization. The story appeared on Fox News’ web site on July 25 and was headlined “Family forced to pay to ship body of Marine killed after Pentagon policy change: ‘Egregious injustice.'”

The story detailed how the household of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee of Roseville, Calif., allegedly needed to pay out of pocket to have her physique transported to Arlington National Cemetery after she was killed in Afghanistan. “The Gee family was able to secure the funding, which came to ‘a staggering $60,000,’ to move their loved one’s body after a nonprofit organization stepped in to cover the cost,” the article learn. It attributed the data to Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, who was quoted calling the incident “an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification.” 

But in response to an investigation by Military.com, which spoke with Gee’s household, they didn’t should pay out of pocket to have Gee buried at Arlington. The outlet obtained emails that confirmed the Marine Corps reached out to Fox after publication requesting they retract the complete story.

“Using the grief of a family member of a fallen Marine to score cheap clickbait points is disgusting,” Marine Corps spokesperson Maj. James Stenger wrote in one e mail reviewed by Military.com. 

Screenshots retrieved by the Wayback Machine present Fox News changed the headline to “Family shouldered burden to transport body of Marine killed in Afghanistan, GOP Rep says” in the times after publication. Again, the Marine Corps spokesperson reportedly emailed to demand a retraction.

“This headline correction is still misleading and your story is still false,” Stinger wrote. 

The story now results in a 404 error message. Fully retracting a story is very uncommon in journalism, and moral greatest practices normally stipulate that the group mustn’t delete the story as a result of that outcomes in an error web page with none context for the reader; as an alternative, the unique article needs to be changed with an evidence of why the story was deleted.

Also deleted was a post on Mills’ site that linked to the Fox News story. He has since issued a press release on social media. “I understand the family of Sgt. Nicole Gee was, in their time of grief, confused regarding the transportation proceedings,” it reads. “I am thankful that Honoring Our Fallen was able to assist the family and that the [Department of Defense] was able to provide clarification on this matter.”

For its half, Fox News apologized in a statement to CNN. “The now unpublished story has been addressed internally and we sincerely apologize to the Gee family,” a Fox News spokesperson mentioned.

Gee enlisted in the Marines in 2017 and was deployed to Afghanistan as a part of the Female Engagement Team serving to evacuate ladies and youngsters. In August 2021, she was killed, alongside 12 others, in an assault on the Kabul airport. 

“Grief is one thing we will reside with the remainder of our lives,” her father wrote in a eulogy learn at Gee’s memorial service in Roseville. “It shall change into our new regular. I’m additionally sporting my grief in satisfaction. Grief implies that I’ve cherished.”