Posted on 09/03/2004 9:40:17 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper
Published: September 03, 2004 10:00 PM EST
NEW YORK The Associated Press changed "boos" to "ooohhs" Friday afternoon in reporting on President George Bush's first statement to supporters on the heart ailment that has befallen former President Bill Clinton.
In a dispatch sent to subscribers in early afternoon, the AP reported that when Bush, at a campaign rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, told the crowd that he wished to send Clinton his "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery," the audience "of thousands booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."
Pretty damning, except that AP soon changed its story, only after the original appeared on many Web sites.
Several Web sites revealed that AP "retracted" the report "citing uncertainties about how to characterize the crowd's reaction."
The new version moved on the wire Friday described the same incident this way, after relating Bush's remarks: "The crowd reacted with applause and with some 'ooohs,' apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill."
A Knight Ridder/Tribune (KRT) report put it this way: "Some in Bush's audience booed when he wished Clinton well...." The AFP wire report declared that after Bush's statement "thousands of boisterous supporters clapped respectfully."
Just watch the film clip idiots! Pretty easy to see it was very respectful.
---All he had to do was turn a TV on, which I am sure it was, but he injected his Liberal bias into the story. Doesn't matter if you happen to be in WI or NYC, you don't need to be there to report on the crowd reaction in a live shot.---
Abbe Hoffman said the best way to write the news was to sit in a closet and make it up.
"citing uncertainties about how to characterize the crowd's reaction."
Oh yeah. I always have difficulty differentiating between Oohs and Boos. ~sarcasm off~
"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"
Good point, Jim Curtis.
I'm glad to have any previous false impressions dispelled, but
wouldn't that be better accomplished with an AP retraction and apology?
Boos actually Ooos is sort of like the mis-report that Bush served Thanksgiving Breakfast to the troops in Iraq. The reporter refused to admit he was an idiot at first.
Jayson Blair followed that advice to a "T".
They never seem to learn: You can survive the *bleep*-up, but you can't survive the coverup.
Galley slaves dug up the Lexis Nexis cite on the orignial artlicle.
Instapundit and Spoons and even I put Lindlaws name out there.
But the Byline is Tom Hays. Since he was writing out of New York, there are probably other reporters who worked on the story... Galley slaves lists some of the others possibly responsible for the maliciously false content about the boos.
Hayes possibly was listening to a radio feed
No. You people have it all wrong. The Story from AP is now reading that Bush said he dropped out of the race, Troops are leaving Iraq to join Iran, Europe will soon liberate America from...well, America and the Moon is made of Blue Cheese.
John Ziegler speaks out on the Booing
on the Air Now!
http://www.kfi640.com/interactive/streaming.html
Imagine the lies told gone unnoticed before the internet.
Thank God for the New Media: Filling up the Memory Hole.
I *thought* I remembered reading "Tom Hays" when I first saw the story this morning but by the time I went back to confirm, AP had pulled it. Thanks for the Lexus-Nexus link, we know now who needs to be fired.
Oh, Sarah, you're awesome, BTW.
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.
FWIW
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