ABC adds punishment to suspension of Brian Ross over fake story that tanked the stock market

ABC News says that the reporter at the center of the debacle surrounding bad reporting on Mike Flynn will be banned from reporting on President Donald Trump.

What caused ABC to ban Brian Ross?

Brian Ross reported that a confidante of Mike Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor that has pled guilty to lying to the FBI, said that Flynn was going to testify against the president and his family.

Later, the report was "corrected" in such a manner as to undo most of the story.

Immediately after the bombshell false report, the stock market tanked by more than 400 points. It recovered most of the decline by day's end.

What was the reaction?

ABC News was excoriated for its false reporting and for how long they took to issue their first tepid correction. They admitted that the story had not been up to their journalistic standards.

"The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process," read a statement from ABC News.

A history of errors

Some on the right noted that Brian Ross had a history of false reporting that appeared to be biased against the right. Among his most notorious is when he recklessly reported that the name of  the Aurora, Colorado, shooter matched that of a Tea Party member in the same area. It was later discovered to have been simply a coincidence.

Suspension

ABC News announced that Ross was to be suspended, and on Monday added that he would no longer be allowed to report on President Trump.