NBC News was forced to issue a significant retraction this week after falsely reporting a slaughterhouse employed an underage migrant worker when the left-wing network learned he was really a 21-year-old man.
Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) blasted NBC in a statement following the retraction, saying the scandal-plagued network "recklessly" broadcasted inaccurate information that could have been avoided if it simply worked with the company.
"PSSI repeatedly implored NBC News to identify the individual in question before airing this segment to help us investigate the matter and enforce our long-standing, zero-tolerance policy against employing anyone under 18. Unfortunately, NBC refused to do so, leading the network to recklessly broadcast a false story," PSSI said.
It began on April 12 when "NBC Nightly News" ran a segment to accompany an online report that said a 16-year-old migrant anonymously identified simply as "Pedro" spoke out against the dangers of working the overnight shift cleaning a slaughterhouse.
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"That hazardous work, illegal for anyone under 18," reporter Julia Ainsley said as NBC showed viewers unnerving images of bloody floors of the PSSI slaughterhouse in Dodge City, Kansas.
"Where they kill the cows, I have to clean the blood of the cows, until I finish," the man referred to as Pedro said.
The NBC News reporter then said Pedro’s shift ends with "just enough time" for him to shower and make it to high school.
"Pedro says he has been working there since he was 15," Ainsley said before noting that PSSI previously settled with the U.S. Labor Dept. after investigators uncovered underage workers.
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"As part of its settlement, PSSI pledged it would no longer hire children and paid a $1.5 million fine… but Pedro is still on the job," the reporter said.
Ainsley ended by noting that PSSI was looking to find the real identity of the man referred to as Pedro, because the company didn’t want any minors illegally working for it.
The problem for NBC News was that Pedro was not a 16-year-old boy despite what the network told viewers.
NBC News posted an embarrassing editor’s note atop the updated online story.
"This article replaces one published by NBC News on April 12, 2023, about a migrant worker at a Kansas slaughterhouse. That article has been withdrawn in light of new information that the migrant is not a minor," NBC News editors wrote.
NBC News’ updated story began by reporting a "Guatemalan migrant who claimed he worked as a minor cleaning a slaughterhouse in Kansas by night while attending high school during the day is actually 21, NBC News has learned."
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NBC corrected its online story on Wednesday, before "NBC Nightly News" aired. However, the network didn’t address the gaffe on air until Thursday with a brief mention by anchor Lester Holt.
"We want to update you on a report we brought you last week. NBC News has learned a Guatemalan migrant featured in a ‘Nightly News’ story who said he was a minor while working overnight cleaning at a slaughterhouse in Kansas is actually 21 years old. The young man had initially told NBC News and the U.S. government he was 16," Holt said before quickly moving on.
PSSI said that after the segment ran, the company immediately reviewed its entire workforce to search for the individual claiming to be a minor.
"When our investigation found this individual, we interviewed him and he said was not a minor. NBC News has since admitted he is 21 years old. This individual said he left Guatemala a year ago and was detained by U.S. border officials when crossing into America. To obtain release, he said he presented his younger brother’s birth certificate to falsely claim he was underage — given the federal government’s policy of letting unaccompanied minors stay in the country," PSSI said in a statement.
"According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, they have caught hundreds of adults falsely claiming to be minors to avoid deportation. When this individual applied to work at PSSI, he presented false identification that cleared the federal government’s own E-Verify system. However, our investigation found no evidence that he is a minor — contrary to NBC News’ report," PSSI continued. "We presented the findings of our investigation to NBC News and reserve all our legal rights."
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PSSI continues to insist it has a zero-tolerance policy against employing anyone under the age of 18.
It's the latest instance of the network having to admit a significant error.
NBC mysteriously retracted reporter Miguel Almaguer’s November story that suggested Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, might not have been in immediate danger when police arrived at his San Francisco home the night he was assaulted by suspect David DePape.
"Miguel f----d up," an NBC News insider said at the time. "It’s not clear that he had anything approaching two sources, and it’s not clear that the first source was more than a tip."
NBC News has not publicly explained what was wrong with the retracted report aside from a brief line that it didn’t meet standards. Media watchdogs have called for greater transparency from NBC to no avail. The bodycam footage of the attack that came out this year confirmed some aspects of NBC's report, but contradicted a key claim that Pelosi walked several feet back toward his eventual assailant after police arrived.
Some insiders believe NBC News has gone downhill since standards and practices head Marian Porges stepped down in 2021 after a 25-year run at the company.
