Ooohs and Boos (A Canadian on AP booing lie)

Canada Free Press ^ | Sept 13, 2004 | Arthur Weinreb

[MaineRepublic]

While making a stump speech in West Allis, Wisconsin on Sept. 3, George W. Bush advised his audience that former President Bill Clinton had been hospitalized in New York after suffering from chest pains and shortness of breath. Bush extended his best wishes "for a swift and speedy recovery" and further said that "He’s in our thoughts and prayers".

In a story released on the wires services right after Bush’s speech, Associated Press reported that "Bush’s audience of thousands in West Allis, booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."

The only problem was that the crowd did not erupt in a chorus of boos as AP had reported. While there may have been some booing, many in the crowd clapped respectfully when the President offered his good wishes to Clinton. There were also sounds of "ooohs" coming from the crowd who were shocked by Bush’s announcement that the chubby, but apparently fit former leader was hospitalized with a serious heart condition.

Without comment or explanation, AP changed the story that it ran later in the day. In the second version, AP changed the reaction of the Bush’s audience to read, "[T]he crowd reacted with applause and some "ooohs" apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill".

The next morning, AP issued a retraction that said "This is a correction to an incorrect story posted by AP on Friday stating the crowd booed the President when he sent his good wishes. The crowd, in fact, did NOT boo."

The reporter, that Associated Press refuses to identify, no doubt heard what he wanted to hear--a Republican crowd booing Bill Clinton who had been hospitalized with a serious medical condition and more importantly, George W. Bush saying or doing nothing about the audience’s negative reaction. This is the only plausible explanation for the mistake other than a complete fabrication of the audience’s reaction.

What helped force Associated Press to send out the corrected story plus the retraction the next day was the power of the Internet. Immediately after the news hit the wire services, blogs were filled with the correct version of the reaction to Bush’s announcement in West Allis and allegations of media bias on the part of AP. As well as making the blog sites, the wire service’s error was reported on news sites such as Newsmax.com.

AP’s erroneous story plus quick correction, followed by a retraction is a good illustration of how the mainstream left-wing media can be held accountable for inaccuracies and bias through the medium of Internet sites.

Arthur Weinreb is an author, columnist and Associate Editor of Canada Free Press. His work as appeared on Newsmax.com, Men's News Daily, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com and The Rant. He can be reached at cfp@canadafreepress.com

[MaineRepublic]

Wow, this Canada Free Press must be hated up in Canada.

Good for them for covering this story.

[battlegearboat]

Aye, we must all keep a vigilant eye on the MSM at all times!

Call your local CBS affiliate sometime today.

[Thickman]

I have sent emails to my local paper requesting that it do a more thorough job of vetting AP wire stories. I noted that the paper has on obligation to ensure that articles it publishes contain hard news regardless of the source.

If all Freepers will contact their local papers each time AP reports slanted news, it will put pressure on that organization. AP is a consortium of all the papers that it serves and thus is dependent upon its members for revenues and editorial guidance.

The "Boo" story is not the only biased report from AP. If you read your local paper, you can find at least a couple of instances a week where opinion is inserted into AP wire "news".

Ask your paper to identify such stories as analysis or to place them on the editorial page.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The AP and CBS were once the best in journalism. Now both are guilty of the worst in selective reporting.

[Landru]

>ping<

...this one's for you. :^)

[ADemocratNoMore]

Last night, at the 2 A.M. news break on WTAM, the newsreader did a story about some Vietnam Vets that protested against Kerry at the Capitol. They shouted "Kerry Lied".
End of story.

I immediately called the news room for the station and got the person who had read the story. I told him that he left out the other half of the sentence, "GOOD MEN DIED!". Without the rest of the quotation, "Kerry lied" basically meant nothing. Kerry lied... about what?, why?, to what end?.

The newsreader said, "Well, that came straight from the Associated Press news story." He said he would do some research, I told him to check out Vietnam Veterans for the Truth, and... the story never ran again after that for the rest of the night.

My take on this is that the AP didn't exactly lie about the rally yesterday by the Vietnam Vets, but by conveniently eliminating the CENTRAL argument, "Good men died", they very effectively slanted the story.

[Billthedrill]

This is the only plausible explanation for the mistake other than a complete fabrication of the audience’s reaction.

I, too, suspect it was a reporter who reported what he wanted to hear. I cannot imagine a news agency fabricating a story simply to hurt the president's image. That would be Ra^ther unethical, would it not?