Fox News deletes story

Fox News deletes story about NorCal woman who died in Afghanistan

By Katie Dowd

A Fox News story about a Northern California woman who died while serving with the Marine Corps in Afghanistan has been deleted with no explanation. The story appeared on Fox News' website on July 25 and was headlined "Family forced to pay to ship body of Marine killed after Pentagon policy change: 'Egregious injustice.'"

The story detailed how the family of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee of Roseville, Calif., allegedly had to pay out of pocket to have her body transported to Arlington National Cemetery after she was killed in Afghanistan. "The Gee family was able to secure the funding, which came to 'a staggering $60,000,' to move their loved one's body after a nonprofit organization stepped in to cover the cost," the article read. It attributed the information to Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida, who was quoted calling the incident "an unacceptable situation that demands immediate rectification." 

But according to an investigation by Military.com, which spoke with Gee's family, they did not have to pay out of pocket to have Gee buried at Arlington. The outlet obtained emails that showed the Marine Corps reached out to Fox after publication requesting they retract the entire story.

"Using the grief of a family member of a fallen Marine to score cheap clickbait points is disgusting," Marine Corps spokesperson Maj. James Stenger wrote in one email reviewed by Military.com. 

Screenshots retrieved by the Wayback Machine show Fox News changed the headline to "Family shouldered burden to transport body of Marine killed in Afghanistan, GOP Rep says" in the days after publication. Again, the Marine Corps spokesperson reportedly emailed to demand a retraction.

"This headline correction is still misleading and your story is still false," Stinger wrote. 

The story now results in a 404 error message. Fully retracting a story is highly unusual in journalism, and ethical best practices usually stipulate that the organization should not delete the story because that results in an error page without any context for the reader; instead, the original article should be replaced with an explanation of why the story was deleted.

Also deleted was a post on Mills' site that linked to the Fox News story. He has since issued a statement on social media. "I understand the family of Sgt. Nicole Gee was, in their time of grief, confused regarding the transportation proceedings," it reads. "I am thankful that Honoring Our Fallen was able to assist the family and that the [Department of Defense] was able to provide clarification on this matter."

For its part, Fox News apologized in a statement to CNN. “The now unpublished story has been addressed internally and we sincerely apologize to the Gee family,” a Fox News spokesperson said.

Gee enlisted in the Marines in 2017 and was deployed to Afghanistan as part of the Female Engagement Team helping evacuate women and children. In August 2021, she was killed, alongside 12 others, in an attack on the Kabul airport. 

“Grief is something we shall live with the rest of our lives," her father wrote in a eulogy read at Gee's memorial service in Roseville. "It shall become our new normal. I am also wearing my grief in pride. Grief means that I have loved."