Media

Boston Globe Issues Second Correction On Liz Warren DNA Story

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Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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The Boston Globe issued a second correction on its story about the results of Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test that showed she has some Native American ancestry.

The Boston Globe originally claimed that the DNA test revealed Warren was somewhere between 1/32 and 1/512 Native American.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 31: Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks at the Our Revolution Massachusetts Rally at the Orpheum Theatre on March 31, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

However, eagle-eyed readers soon spotted mistakes in the Boston Globe’s math.

The Boston Globe issued a correction early Monday indicating that if Warren’s ancestor were 10 generations removed, she would be 1/1024 Native American — not 1/512.  (RELATED: Boston Globe Correction Casts Doubt On Liz Warren’s Ancestry Claims) 

The outlet then issued a second correction on Monday afternoon, clarifying that it had gotten the entire range of ancestry wrong.

“Due to a math error, a story about Elizabeth Warren misstated the ancestry percentage of a potential 6th to 10th generation relative. The generational range based on the ancestor that the report identified suggests she’s between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American,” the Globe explained.

This means Warren is somewhere between 0.09 and 1.5 percent Native American, not between .19 and 3.1 percent as originally claimed.

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