Posted on 09/04/2004 5:36:40 AM PDT by Dog
Booing the AP When the AP story about a Republican crowd booing President Bush's well-wishes for Bill Clinton first broke at 2:12 p.m., the story carried the byline of Tom Hays. After coming under fire, the AP pulled the story down. The original link now brings you to a dead page.
After a brief interlude, the AP reposted the story, minus the claims that the crowd had booed Clinton's heart scare. The revised story is here. It carries the time stamp of 2:31 p.m. and, curiously, no byline. It also carried no mention of the story's previous version, nor any mark that the new version is indeed a revision. (For those looking for it, there was one tell-tale sign in the AP's URL: The URL for the first version ended in "bush_clinton_1", while the URL for the second version ends "bush_clinton_2".)
So the AP: (1) Puts out a story with falsified reporting; (2) Pulls the story; (3) Removes the faulty reporting; (4) Makes no note of its mistake; and then (5) Pulls the byline of the reporter who made the error. If you were going to impute bad faith to the folks at AP--and at this point that's not unreasonable to do--you might suspect that they have pulled Tom Hays's byline to protect him.
Behold the power of Lexis-Nexis. The AP was able to cover their tracks on the web, but Lexis-Nexis keeps all versions of stories which carry different time-stamps. The Hays original is preserved there in its entirety:
September 3, 2004 Friday 2:12 PM Eastern Time SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
LENGTH: 649 words
HEADLINE: Bill Clinton hospitalized with chest pains, will face bypass surgery
BYLINE: TOM HAYS; Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Former President Bill Clinton checked into a Manhattan hospital Friday with chest pains and will soon undergo bypass surgery, his office announced.
An angiogram given to Clinton revealed "significant blockage," said a Democratic official, who had discussed the condition with the former president's staff and spoke on condition of anonymity. It did not appear that Clinton suffered a heart attack, the official said.
Clinton, 58, was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after undergoing initial testing near his suburban home, his office said. Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, were to be with the president in the city, the statement said.
Clinton canceled a two-day joint trip with his wife across upstate New York.
Sen. Clinton made a brief appearance Friday at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, after which she noted that her husband was hospitalized and would need heart surgery, and apologized for leaving right away. "He's in excellent hands," she said.
Dozens of reporters and camera crews were assembled outside the city hospital, which is north of Clinton's Harlem office. Hospital officials had no immediate comment.
There was no word on when the surgery would take place. A source speaking on condition of anonymity said the surgery was not likely to take place Friday, but instead at a later date.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton's mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, said Clinton had called her to tell her about the situation.
"He sounded wonderful as usual and very upbeat, as he always is," she said. "I just told him how much I love him."
She said she didn't know if he was in the hospital when he called.
Clinton had a cancerous growth removed from his back shortly after leaving office in early 2001. It turned out to be basal cell carcinoma, the most treatable form of skin cancer. In 1996, he had had a precancerous lesion removed from his nose and a year before that had a benign cyst taken off his chest.
Other than that, Clinton has had the normal health problems that often accompany aging - periods of slightly elevated cholesterol and hearing loss - and an appetite for junk food. In 1997, he was fitted with hearing aids. He has also suffered from allergies.
Clinton went to Northern Westchester Hospital on Thursday after suffering "mild chest pain" and shortness of breath, his office said in a statement. He spent the night at his Chappaqua home, but checked into the Manhattan hospital after further tests Friday revealed the medical problem.
"He's going to be fine," Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said at a rally in Newark, Ohio.
"But every single one of us wants to extend to him our best wishes, our prayers and our thoughts and I want you all to let a cheer out and clap that he can hear all the way to New York," Kerry said to cheers. Clinton had been expected to campaign extensively for Kerry.
President George W. Bush, campaigning in Wisconsin, wished Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said. Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wisconsin, booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.
In June, a Clinton spokesman characterized the ex-president as "doing very well" health-wise. The 42nd president has struggled with a weight problem, but had recently seemed much leaner at public appearances.
During his two terms as president, Clinton was known for his love of fast food. But in January of this year, Clinton said he had gone on "The South Beach Diet" and started a workout regimen.
Clinton has led an active lifestyle since leaving office. Most recently, he was on the road plugging his memoirs, "My Life."
Associated Press writers Ron Fournier and Frank Eltman in New York, David Hammer in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Marc Humbert in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.
The next nugget on the Lexis-Nexis trail is a shortened, corrected, un-bylined version of the story that is time-stamped 2:41 p.m.:
September 3, 2004 Friday 2:41 PM Eastern Time SECTION: NATIONAL POLITICAL NEWS
LENGTH: 118 words
HEADLINE: Bush Offers Best Wishes for Clinton
DATELINE: WEST ALLIS, Wis.
President Bush on Friday offered former President Bill Clinton, who faces heart bypass surgery, "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally.
Bush offered his wishes while campaigning one day after accepting the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in New York. Clinton was hospitalized in New York after complaining of mild chest pain and shortness of breath.
Bush recently praised Clinton when the former president went to the White House for the unveiling of his official portrait. He lauded Clinton for his knowledge, compassion and "the forward-looking spirit that Americans like in a president."
So what's going on here? Was Hays in Wisconsin reporting, or in New York? What role did Ron Fournier, Frank Eltman, David Hammer, and Marc Humbert have in this story? There are five reporters on the hook for this misreporting, surely one of them will want to clear their name.
P.S.: This is a fine time for Romenesko to be on vacation. Let's hope he digs into this story on Tuesday. Paging Howie Kurtz . . . posted by Jonathan V. Last at 10:49 PM
My fault. I originally got the audio link off of Drudge's site. Let me dig a bit here, I'm betting someone has a link. Standby
"If you need a reason to pray for Clinton, consider the political clout his death will give to Hillary.
She'd play the grieving widow, and invoke Clinton's name lovingly in speeches. Sympathy plus her baffling popularity with women will overshadow much of her politics and record... and it might be enough to propel her in the White House. (With Bill alive, she's the wife of a popular adulterer. Dead, she'd be the widow of a popular former President. My math says the former is politically good ammo... although alive he can appeal to those women who think he's handsome. So who knows...)
Pray for Bill! May he live a dozen more years."
Who would ever have thunk that WE on the right would be praying for his survival and good health, while I'm kinda thinking that Shrilliary is secretly smiling at the thought of his demise. Of the irony.
#15
Good work.
The perp should be fired.
*snicker saluting Jason Blair
You might be right. I don't know, and would want more evidence. For example, timestamps on each of the smaller stories, comapred with the timestamp on Hays' piece.
There is a FR post at 14:16:20 (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1206685/posts) for what appears to be the "original" story. Is Hays' article before or after that?
Well, account for your fictitious urges:
"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said. Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wisconsin, booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.
We're waiting... who do you think you work for: the NY TIMES??
Aren't you just glad he didn't die in office? *shudder*
What if he became the next Zell Miller? (With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible)
The name to remember is "Tom Hays".
Yes, he wins the Clymer Award this year.
(4) Makes no note of its mistake; and then (5) Pulls the byline of the reporter who made the error.
CORRECTION:
(4) Makes no note of its LIE; and then (5) Pulls the byline of the reporter who made the LIE.
Tom Hays I'm sure has an axe to grind over it. So what's a little made up news these days? After all, it gets you the democrat presidential nomination!
This is one of them. I wrote a letter to Tom Hays' boss but I'm still steaming. I'd give my firsborn that this story doesn't die.
It's mean, vicious lying and nothing less.
AP needs to be pressured into issuing a very loud and contrite retraction. An apology would be nice.
Until then, I guess we'll have to tape record, capture audio and have eyewitnesses at every damn event that the lies are caught.
I'll be steaming all day over this.
You might be right. I don't know, and would want more evidence. For example, timestamps on each of the smaller stories, comapred with the timestamp on Hays' piece.
There is a FR post at 14:16:20 (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1206685/posts) for what appears to be the "original" story. Is Hays' article before or after that?
September 3, 2004, 1:57 PM EDT WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) _ President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
"He's is in our thoughts and prayers," Bush said at a campaign rally.
Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them. ...
The short story, dateline WEST ALLIS, precedes the ...
September 3, 2004 Friday 2:12 PM Eastern Time SECTION: INTERNATIONAL NEWS
BYLINE: TOM HAYS; Associated Press Writer
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Like black churches burning in Arkansas what matters is the fact that Hays knew everyone in the Bush crowd would liked to have boooed, but restrained it, much like everyone in Arkansas but Young Clinton would have liked to see black churches burning, so it's ok to say it for the record anyway.
Liberals just have this sixth sense and are able to see what's really going on. Someone has to warn the world!
"Until then, I guess we'll have to tape record, capture audio and have eyewitnesses at every damn event that the lies are caught.
I'll be steaming all day over this."
Of course the RUB is that WE know the truth, but how many of these get through to the rest of America, who beleive this cr%p when they read it. It becomes another talking point for the Libs to jab in our faces: "Your guys celebrated Bill's bad health", ohhhh - here we go AGAIN!
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