USA Today has unpublished 23 articles written by a journalist at the outlet who the company said fabricated sources and other facts in those reports.
The outlet said it began an audit of the reporter’s work after it received an external correction request. The audit found the reporter, Gabriela Miranda, penned articles in which “some individuals quoted were not affiliated with the organizations claimed and appeared to be fabricated.”
“The existence of other individuals quoted could not be independently verified. In addition, some stories included quotes that should have been credited to others,” the newspaper said in a note to readers on Thursday.
The outlet said it has removed the offending articles from its website and other platforms for “not meeting our editorial standards” and noted that Miranda resigned from USA Today.
News of the newspaper’s move to take down the articles was first reported by The New York Times.
“We strive to be accurate and factual in all our content and regret this situation,” the company said in its note to readers, adding it will “continue to reinforce and strengthen our reporting and editing diligence.”
As part of its notification, USA Today listed the articles written by Miranda, hyperlinks of which remain active but are now missing text.
The articles were about topics such as TikTok banning the “milk crate challenge,” the capybara population wreaking havoc in Argentina, an explainer about breast cancer, a look at how ‘Friendsgiving’ has grown in popularity, the 10 most popular liquors for Christmas and an anti-vaccine activist who was pushing urine therapy as a COVID-19 antidote.