Yesterday morning, reporter Brian Ross of ABC News issued a bombshell report on the Michael Flynn guilty plea.  Ross said Flynn had been asked by Trump to contact the Russians during his campaign for president.  

As a result of that report, Twitter exploded.  Ross's story was retweeted 25,000 times as everyone realized the implication: if Trump asked Flynn to contact the Russians during the campaign, it strongly suggests collusion.

The stock market tanked, losing 350 points in a matter of minutes.

The sharp slide in the stock market came within minutes of an ABC News report that Flynn is prepared to testify that Trump directed him to make contact with Russians. https://t.co/0Muyz3cZfZ pic.twitter.com/PtBgdLY3CC

— CNNMoney (@CNNMoney) December 1, 2017

There was only one tiny problem with the story: it wasn't true.

CORRECTION of ABC News Special Report: Flynn prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians *during the transition* – initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria, confidant now says. https://t.co/ewrkVZTu2K pic.twitter.com/URLiHf3uSm

— ABC News (@ABC) December 2, 2017

Later, on ABC World News Tonight, Ross "clarified" his reporting:

"[A] clarification tonight on something one of Flynn's confidants told us and we reported earlier today," Ross said on the program. "He said the president had asked Flynn to contact Russia during the campaign. He's now clarifying that saying, according to Flynn, candidate Trump asked him during the campaign to find ways to repair relations with Russia and other world hot spots. And then after the election, the president-elect asked him to contact Russia on issues including working together to fight ISIS."

A tweet published by ABC News containing Ross' initial report had been retweeted more than 25,000 times and embedded in various news stories online before it was deleted. ABC posted a "clarification" on Twitter around 8 p.m.

An ABC spokesperson said the network learned its initial reporting was incorrect at about 6 p.m. The network spokesperson declined to say if any disciplinary action would occur.

Why should any disciplinary action be taken?  It wasn't taken the first time Ross circulated a false story.  After the shooting at a Colorado movie theater in 2012, Ross made another massive error in his live report:

Here is the exchange between ABC News chief investigator Brian Ross and host George Stephanopoulos about apparent suspect James Holmes:

Stephanopoulos: I'm going to go to Brian Ross. You've been investigating the background of Jim Holmes here. You found something that might be significant.

Ross: There's a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado, page on the Colorado Tea party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don't know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it's Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.

Stephanopoulos: Okay, we'll keep looking at that. Brian Ross, thanks very much.

Needless to say, the poor Tea Party guy named James Holmes was not the James Holmes who shot up the theater.  But the angle was just too juicy for Ross not to blurt it out on live TV; the mass murderer was a Tea Party supporter. 

I wrote this at the time:

There used to be a time when journalists had a rough integrity about what they said over the air and took pride in striving for accuracy. Who could ever forget ABC's Frank Reynolds, ABC News anchorman, who, after receiving and announcing word that James Brady had been killed in the Reagan assassination attempt only to discover the press secretary was still alive, got visibly angry and to no one in particular barked on air, "Let's get this right. Let's nail this down."

Today, Stephanopoulos thanked Brian Ross for smearing the Tea Party by reporting a lie. Ross should be suspended or lose his job for this attempt to inject politics into a national tragedy.

That's twice that Ross's false reporting has severely damaged a target of the left.  Coincidence?  Incompetence? 

I said it then, and I'll say it now.  Ross should be fired.