Two newspaper staffers have been fired after attributing a false quote to a local sheriff. In a piece that ran in The News-Enterprise, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward is said to have told a reporter that most police 'have a desire to shoot minorities.' Sheriff Ward immediately went public saying that he would never make such a comment and was 'pranked,' and an internal investigation revealed that two members of the staff added the line to the story while it was being fact checked. It is believed one added the line as a joke, and the second failed to notice the line had been added while proofreading, and the story went to print with the mistake. Scroll down for video . Bad press: In a piece that ran in The News-Enterprise, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward (above) is said to have told a reporter that most police 'have a desire to shoot minorities' Unacceptable: An internal investigation revealed that two members of the staff added the line (above) to the story while it was being fact checked . Anna Taylor, the reporter who wrote the story, had nothing to do with the very insensitive 'prank' as Ward referred to it. 'I've had many calls, emails, Facebook messages, supporting me from people that know I wouldn't have made such a comment,' Ward told WAVE. The paper's editor, Ben Sheroan, posted a column about the incident on Thursday. 'No reasonable excuse exists for the horrible mistake that occurred Thursday in The News-Enterprise,' he wrote. 'A retraction and apology has been printed Friday on Page A1. As community members and neighbors, we feel it is important to repeat this apology again publicly to Sheriff John Ward, the entire law enforcement community and to you, our readers.' All good: Reporter Anna Taylor (above) did not have anything to do with the change in the story . He then revealed, 'Many of Thursday's upset callers asked the same question:“Doesn't anyone proof your newspaper?”' 'Well, surprisingly that's where the error took place. A function and process designed to rid the news pages of error instead added a terrible one that altered the reporter's original sentence. No reasonable excuse can exist.' Sheriff Ward says he does not plan on taking legal action, and the names of the fired staffers have not been released at this time.
Two staffers at The News-Enterprise in Elizabethtown, Kentucky have been fired after they put a false statement in a story .
The staffers added a line into a story on Hardin County Sheriff John Ward saying that the man claimed most police 'have a desire to shoot minorities'
The two, who have not been named, were immediately fired, and it was revealed they put in the line while fact checking the story .
Anna Taylor, the reporter who wrote the article, was not involved in the incident .
Sheriff Ward is referring to the incident as a 'prank'
Two newspaper staffers have been fired after attributing a false quote to a local sheriff. In a piece that ran in The News-Enterprise, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward is said to have told a reporter that most police 'have a desire to shoot minorities.' Sheriff Ward immediately went public saying that he would never make such a comment and was 'pranked,' and an internal investigation revealed that two members of the staff added the line to the story while it was being fact checked. It is believed one added the line as a joke, and the second failed to notice the line had been added while proofreading, and the story went to print with the mistake. Scroll down for video . Bad press: In a piece that ran in The News-Enterprise, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward (above) is said to have told a reporter that most police 'have a desire to shoot minorities' Unacceptable: An internal investigation revealed that two members of the staff added the line (above) to the story while it was being fact checked . Anna Taylor, the reporter who wrote the story, had nothing to do with the very insensitive 'prank' as Ward referred to it. 'I've had many calls, emails, Facebook messages, supporting me from people that know I wouldn't have made such a comment,' Ward told WAVE. The paper's editor, Ben Sheroan, posted a column about the incident on Thursday. 'No reasonable excuse exists for the horrible mistake that occurred Thursday in The News-Enterprise,' he wrote. 'A retraction and apology has been printed Friday on Page A1. As community members and neighbors, we feel it is important to repeat this apology again publicly to Sheriff John Ward, the entire law enforcement community and to you, our readers.' All good: Reporter Anna Taylor (above) did not have anything to do with the change in the story . He then revealed, 'Many of Thursday's upset callers asked the same question:“Doesn't anyone proof your newspaper?”' 'Well, surprisingly that's where the error took place. A function and process designed to rid the news pages of error instead added a terrible one that altered the reporter's original sentence. No reasonable excuse can exist.' Sheriff Ward says he does not plan on taking legal action, and the names of the fired staffers have not been released at this time.
Two newspaper staffers have been fired after a piece that ran in The News-Enterprise, Hardin reporter that most police 'have a desire to shoot line to the story while it was being fact checked. It is believed one added the line as a News-Enterprise, Hardin County Sheriff John Ward police 'have a desire to shoot minorities' checked . Anna Taylor, the reporter who wrote the names of the fired staffers have not been