AG
NBC News has now settled this defamation lawsuit with a Georgia doctor who several network anchors smeared with false claims of him performing mass hysterectomies on female detainees at an ICE facility. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/21/nx-s1-5305268/nbc-settles-lawsuit-ice-doctor-msnbc-maddow-georgia-detainee
AG
A bogus complaint claiming mass hysterectomies was filed with the help of an activist group of immigration attorneys. This false smear was first picked up by The Intercept (9/14), which regularly publishes false claims without vetting. Then it was picked up by NBC News (9/15) and MSNBC while naming the doctor. Other outlets soon joined in and Congressional Democrats, led by Rep Pramila Jayapal, parroted the claims attacking the facility. Within a few weeks, it was widely spread that this particular doctor was essentially experimenting on migrant women at this facility. This all happened despite there being plenty of evidence available at the time to suggest the complaint was full of falsehoods. In this case, NBC/MSNBC made the mistake of naming the doctor the smear was targeting so there may be consequences, but think about how often this pattern repeats when they target more public figures or report the claims more generally.