Posted on 09/04/2004 6:47:08 PM PDT by quidnunc
The Associated Press, a powerful worldwide news source owned by its member daily newspapers, has perpetrated a vile and slanderous lie about President Bush and his supporters, and been caught read-handed. The smoking gun exists safe and sound in the cache memory of countless blog sites. The AP's reporter wrote a dispatch claiming that when President Bush told a rally of his supporters in West Allis, Wisconsin that President Clinton had been hospitalized,
“the audience "of thousands booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."
Within seconds, the AP dispatch went around the world, and the lie was repeated. In point of fact, eyewitnesses and listeners to radio and television reports could hear that there was no audible booing, but there was supportive applause when the President called on everyone to pray for ex-President Clinton’s recovery.
Unfortunately for the AP, we live in the age of the blogosphere. Almost as quickly as the lie was spread, bloggers started work documenting the report and its factual refutation. Recordings of the crowd's reaction, contradicting the AP, are avilable to anyone on the web, courtesy of America's blogforce.
Caught, the AP behaved disgracefully. They pulled the byline appearing on the report, one Tom Hays, who appears to work in New York, and issued a corrected report, changing “boos” to “oohs,” perhaps to protect itself and claim an innocent mistake. Of course, that would not explain the “Bush did nothing to stop them” slander.
Even more tellingly, AP moved to cover its tracks, pulling the original report from the Lexis/Nexis database, effectively throwing it into Orwell’s Memory Hole. Jonathan Last summarized its behavior as follows:
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
CAN THEY BE SUED FOR SLANDER?
IS THERE A LAYYER AMONG US?
COULD WE SUIT ON BEHALF OF PRESIDENT BUSH?
COULD WE DEMAND A PUBLIC APPOLOGY?
LETS START A FIRE!
We need someone to book Brent Bozell and Bernard Goldberg on a show to discuss this fully.
LETS CONTACT HANNITY:
Tom Hays OF Associated Press SHOULD BE BANNED FROM BUSH'S CAMPAIGN.
FREEP THIS, GATHER SIGNATURES AND DEMAND A PUBLIC APPOLOGY!
CONTACT JUDICIAL WATCH:
mailto:info@judicialwatch.org
YES! A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT FROM WISCONSIN REPUBLICANS!!!!!!
But I don't think they should wait 'til November. This could be a godsend at the perfect time for GWB. Dan Rather is dredging up pathetic Ben Barnes tonight, tabloid-queen Kitty Kelly's book is coming out--the cornered rats are going to wildly start throwing every kind of sewage they can manufacture.
THIS could cut it off at the pass & absolutely neutralize it, IF we can get it on the front pages as we did the Swiftees.
Thanks Bahbah.
I'm glad to see this story will not die.
I just hope that history remembers that Free Republic broke this AP scandal.
"I just hope that history remembers that Free Republic broke this AP scandal."
LOL, if history tries to forget I'm pretty sure it's been saved to large numbers of FR computers to help with the jogging of history's memory.
Caught, eh?
No kiddin'. :o)
...thanks for posting this, quid.
Not an experience I am likely to forget, black and blue for a couple weeks. At the time I weighed 107 pounds, about half the man I am now.<(•¿•)>
called Tom Curley, President and CEO AP to complain (212-621-7550). I expected voice mail or a secretary but Curley picked up.
I asked if Hayes would be fired. I went into a rant. He said we see things differently. I asked why the AP would release as news today an article that "Bush" mangled a sentence today. The only thing he could say was "thanks for calling" click.
Curley is due a good freep. The pompous elitist. They think we are all idiots. I believe they are a tad bit scared though
Yes, makes you wonder what all they have falsely reported.
Dear Billie,
Thanks for e-mailing. On Saturday, a correction was sent out. Let me explain what happened so you can understand this was not some case of "old media" "leftist bias" or whatever _ but a simple human mistake that we all make. As a science correspondent, I was writing, from Washington, a story on the Clinton surgery and heart problem. I was sent an insert about Kerry mentioning the Clinton surgery and I tried to balance it with something taken from AP on Bush mentioning it. Since much of the e-mail I am getting seems generated by some web site that vilifies reporters, I recommend you read the entire story instead of someone's edited version of it. When you do you will see this hardly a case of the media bashing Bush supporters. It is a case of a rushed reporter stupidly _ and in error _ using an AP story in half a sentence and not crediting AP. The full story is here:
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/9577034.htm
I was in error not mentioning AP's contribution and in using what was later retracted by AP. When Knight Ridder learned of AP's retraction, we sent out a similar correction Saturday at 3: 16 pm. The correction is here: ^BC-MED-CLINTON-BYPASS-CORRECTIVE:WA _ national, world, xtop, itop (70@ words)
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
(KRT)
Editors who used MED-CLINTON-BYPASS:WA (Borenstein), which moved Friday, are asked to use the following:
___
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
A story about plans for former President Clinton to undergo heart surgery incorrectly reported that some people at a campaign appearance booed when President Bush wished Clinton well. There were no boos.
___
(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-09-04-04 1516EDT
I hope this helps. If it doesn't or you have any other questions, please e-mail me. Sincerely,
Seth Borenstein.
Seth Borenstein
National Correspondent
Knight Ridder Newspapers
700 12th St. NW, Suite 1000,
Washington, DC 20005-3994
(note new mail address as of June 21, 2004)
202-383-6102
www.krwashington.com
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/seth_borenstein
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS: Philadelphia Inquirer * Detroit Free Press * Miami Herald * San Jose Mercury News * Kansas City Star * Fort Worth Star-Telegram * The Charlotte Observer * St. Paul Pioneer Press * Contra Costa Newspapers * Philadelphia Daily News * Akron Beacon Journal * Lexington Herald Leader * The (Columbia) State * The Wichita Eagle * el Nuevo Herald * The Macon Telegraph * Belleville News Democrat * Tallahassee Democrat * The (Wilkes-Barre) Times Leader * Duluth News Tribune * Columbus Ledger-Enquirer * The (Biloxi) Sun Herald * The (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel * The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News * Bradenton Herald * Grand Forks Herald * The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune * The (Monterey County) Herald * (State College) Centre Daily Times * Aberdeen American News * The Olathe Daily News
I clicked on the last link as well as the first one, and it refers to the latest article....WHICH takes one back to the original story of Friday September 3......WITH THE NOTE STILL THERE ABOUT SOME OF BUSH AUDIENCE BOOING!!! I wrote him back and told him that part should be corrected in that article since it was still on the net.
"Thanks for letting me know. Our webmistress is on vacation, so the correction which should automatically be appended was not. We will get that fixed ASAP. Thanks, Seth
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.