NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Fox News on Tuesday removed from its site an inaccurate story that peddled a conspiracy theory about the murder of Democratic National Committee Staffer Seth Rich. The story had remained online for almost a week after CNN pointed out basic problems with its assertions.
"On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich," a statement on the Fox News website said. "The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed."
"We will continue to investigate this story and will provide updates as warranted," the statement added.
It was not immediately clear if the reporter or editor responsible for the story were facing any disciplinary action.
Brad Bauman, spokesman for the Rich family, told CNN the family was grateful for the retraction.
"The family would like to thank Fox News for their retraction on a story that has caused deep pain and anguish to the family and has done harm to Seth Rich's legacy," he said. "We are hopeful that in the future Fox News will work with the family to ensure the highest degree of professionally and scrutiny is followed so that only accurate facts are reported serving this case."
Asked about Fox News host Sean Hannity's continued promotion of the discredited conspiracy theory, Bauman declined to comment.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
