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The AP Changes "Boos" to "Ooohs" in Report on Bush and Clinton
Editor & Publisher ^ | 3 September 2004 | E&P Staff

Posted on 09/03/2004 9:40:17 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper

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To: garjog
The reporter refused to admit he was an idiot at first.

It wasn't idiocy. It was intentional lying.

41 posted on 09/03/2004 10:24:49 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: SarahW

Hays has written many stories over the past few weeks covering the convention. None of them appeared to have any bias or slant that I can see. I would more suspect a "contributor" was at fault, as has been alledged here.


42 posted on 09/03/2004 10:32:16 PM PDT by Jalapeno
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To: cyncooper
FWIW, anyone attributed as "contributing to the story" are also culpable, not just the individual who's name appears in the byline of the story.

So, there are five sets of hands who all have a history of having a Liberal media agenda, involved in this story.

43 posted on 09/03/2004 10:32:36 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Real gun control is - all shots inside the ten ring)
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To: garjog

Even worse was when the LA Times falsely reported that Bremer left Iraq without giving a farewell speech. The "reporter" then added that it was as if Bremer was ashamed to give a speech. Well, not only did Bremer definitely give a farewell speech, but it was well-received by Iraqis, according to some of the Iraqi bloggers. The LA Times finally printed a "correction" in which the "reporter" lamely stated that Bremer's speech had not been advertised, as if the world was supposed to come to the "reporter", and not the other way around. That too was crap, because Bremer's speech had not only been mentioned on CNN, but it was SEEN on CNN!

Anyway, an email to info@ap.org with a request that it be forwarded to Tom Hays (our prime suspect, I guess) might get something worthwhile accomplished.

This section from the original Lexis-Nexis just makes me fume:
====
. . .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. . . . .
====
BARF!


44 posted on 09/03/2004 10:41:40 PM PDT by fhlime
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To: BigSkyFreeper
I think the vast majority wouldn't wish the sink-master any particular ill, they were probably booing McDonald's for pushing all those Big Macs on the poor fellow.

But seriously, the man occupies a place of great shame for the things he has done, and I'm sure wherever a crowd is assembled there will be some boos heard at the mention of his name. Same as when the crowd at that NYC benefit booed hitlery. Doesn't mean they wish them ill, they just want the both of them out of that place of shame, and into that place of obscurity. I hope the time comes one day when we will have trouble remembering their names, and for that matter, when they were President.

Get well soon Mr. disgraced former President, and when you are well enough to travel, please do.
45 posted on 09/03/2004 10:56:14 PM PDT by Clinging Bitterly (Going partly violent to the thing since Nov. 25, 2000.)
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To: BigSkyFreeper
Don't be too hard on AP. They were doubtless relying on a local "stringer", not one of their regular employees. So they don't need to fire anybody. And they retracted when corrected.

Damage done, not least to AP's reputation. Not much they can do about it, either. Beside blackballing the stringer, but that's not something done publicly.

46 posted on 09/03/2004 10:56:49 PM PDT by Salman
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To: Salman

Time will tell just how long the Democrats will run with this lie on the campaign trail.


47 posted on 09/03/2004 11:01:41 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Real gun control is - all shots inside the ten ring)
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To: SarahW

Lindlaw is on a similar story in Kight-Ridder newspapers, linked here earlier.

This crap has got to stop, now. The Bush team needs to fire off a strongly worded letter to both agencies demand an apology.

This was intentional deceit--and the line "Bush did nothing to stop them," was literally dripping with contempt and derision.

Fox or somebody has to get this out there. This completely discredits the AP.


48 posted on 09/03/2004 11:03:12 PM PDT by CalRepublican
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To: BigSkyFreeper
The headlines should have read:

Kerry reported that the Bush supporters Booed when President Bush asked everyone to pray for Clinton, but later recanted his his statement saying that he didn't say that at all, that it was the Swift Boat Crew members who were trashing him that gave that report to AP under the guise that it was from Kerry.

49 posted on 09/03/2004 11:09:47 PM PDT by Iam1ru1-2
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To: cyncooper

Jonathan Last at Galley Slaves noted them in the piece I linked to....He remarks that the reputation of all are on the line. I want to know who is responsible. He should be fired.
AP needs to make an apology and put a specific retraction over the wires.

Many places are still reporting and printing stories that indicate the corwd, or some in the corwd were booing.

There was no booing according to eyewitnesses, none on the audio tapes or video. If there was any bad behaviour it was de minimis and one would hardly expect President Bush to notice it over the cheers, since nobody else can.


50 posted on 09/03/2004 11:13:23 PM PDT by SarahW
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To: Salman

They've retracted, eh? Tell that to the Guardian. It's there at this moment:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4472156,00.html

Where else in the world might this "story" be running that we haven't seen yet?

It's also still at the Boston Globe site, the screencap on post 39 which I made 11 hours ago.

Don't give those suckers an inch.


51 posted on 09/03/2004 11:14:18 PM PDT by JoJo Gunn (Help control the Leftist population - have them spayed or neutered.©)
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To: BigSkyFreeper

Steve Glass is at AP now?


52 posted on 09/03/2004 11:15:12 PM PDT by tame (Are you willing to do for the truth what leftists are willing to do for a lie?)
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To: BigSkyFreeper

"citing uncertainties about how to characterize the crowd's reaction."

These people are nuts. There is no question as how to characterize the reaction: it was overwhelmingly positive - almost surprisingly so. These people can't imagine Republicans being gracious to Bill Clinton in his time of crisis because they themselves couldn't find it in their heart to treat Ronald Reagan humanely while he was suffering with alzheimers for so many years.


53 posted on 09/03/2004 11:22:57 PM PDT by Avenger
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To: flashbunny

The guy's name was Hayes.


54 posted on 09/03/2004 11:24:33 PM PDT by Eva
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To: BigSkyFreeper

"The crowd reacted with applause and with some 'ooohs,' apparently surprised by the news that Clinton was ill."

Nonsense. Serious arse-covering going on here. This completely misrepresents what happened. These were not "ooohs," these were "whooos." Completely different animals. The former indicates surprise, while the latter indicates agreement and support with what the speak er just said.

AP, your bias is showing.


55 posted on 09/03/2004 11:27:24 PM PDT by Avenger
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To: SarahW

And there was even bigger applause from the crowd when President Bush wished Clinton a "swift and speedy recovery". I even saw some young kid behind the President waving a foam finger.


56 posted on 09/03/2004 11:41:34 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Real gun control is - all shots inside the ten ring)
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To: Avenger

They weren't "oooh'ing" or even "whoo'ing" much less "boo'ing". Think of it as a collective gasp of surprise from several thousand spectators all at once. That's what it sounded like to me.


57 posted on 09/03/2004 11:43:42 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper (Real gun control is - all shots inside the ten ring)
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To: BigSkyFreeper

This story has been picked up by some of the major bloggers, like Instapundit, Captain's Quarters, Command Post and more. None mentions that it was Freepers who first noticed the lie.

Here is some of what they have had to say.

Friday, September 03, 2004
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





September 04, 2004
AP Turns Cheers Into Boos, And Now Everybody Knows Their Name
My Northern Alliance colleague and fellow RNC blogger Hindrocket from Power Line notes a horrendous example of media bias that should shock anyone who reads the news. The Associated Press, one of the primary resources of the mainstream news media, deliberately reported false news regarding Republican reaction to Bill Clinton's emergency bypass operation to make GOP supporters and George Bush look petty and mean-spirited:

WEST ALLIS, Wis. - President Bush (news - web sites) on Friday wished Bill Clinton (news - web sites) "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. 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."
I bolded the two sentences because if you read the AP's update, it disappeared without any explanation. Unfortunately, it was too late to keep the original report to show up in the print media, meaning if you read the newspapers, you're going to see the original and false story. Fortunately, Drudge carries the audio from the event proving that the story is completely false.

We've been used to the press reporting selectively on issues in order to make John Kerry look good and George Bush look bad. We've watched while the press ignored the Christmas in Cambodia mythology that Kerry spewed for three decades until the blogosphere finally forced them to report it. We've sat back and fumed while the press has made excuse after excuse for Kerry's collapsing campaign during this past month.

But this is far too outrageous for people to sit quietly by. It's one thing to report selectively; it's something completely different to write fiction and pass it off as news. The Associated Press has apparently decided to trade in its credibility with news readers and media sources in order to libel George Bush and a group of people who reacted in a most human and sympathetic fashion to the news of a political opponent's ill health.

Bias has been an ongoing problem at the AP and American media in general. In their desperation to unseat a popular president, they've finally resorted to outright, bald-faced lies. Are you happy to have your airwaves and your news sources hijacked by the rabid, dishonest, and unscrupulous partisans who run the Associated Press? Because if you're not, I would suggest you contact any news organization in your area and forward them Hindrocket's post at Power Line if they run the original version of the story.

UPDATE: Thanks to LittleBirdie20, we have some contact information:

Mr. T. Lee Hughes
Bureau Chief
Associated Press (NS-310V)
Milwaukee

918 N 4th St
Milwaukee, WI 53203-1506

Media Phone Number: (414) 225-3580
Media Fax Number: (414) 225-3599
Editor Email: tlhughes@ap.org

Mr. Scott Lindlaw
Associated Press (NS-300I)
White House Reporter

2021 K St NW
Ste 600
Washington, DC 20006-1003

Editor Phone Number: (202) 776-9494
Media Fax Number: (202) 776-9570
Editor Email: slindlaw@ap.org

Ms. Sandy Johnson
Associated Press (NS-300I)
Bureau Chief

2021 K St NW
Ste 600
Washington, DC 20006-1003

Editor Phone Number: (202) 776-9435
Media Fax Number: (202) 776-9570
Editor Email: sjohnson@ap.org

Let them know how you feel about this outrageous incident.

Posted by Captain Ed at September 4, 2004 12:36 AM


58 posted on 09/03/2004 11:45:56 PM PDT by Eva
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To: BigSkyFreeper

Scary that the AFP (French news agency) would be the one to get it right when our own AP lied.

Also interesting that the ultra liberal Yahoo! news selected the AP story when they tend to use AFP even more often.


59 posted on 09/03/2004 11:51:24 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
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To: BigSkyFreeper; All
AP CAUGHT LYING: No boos at Bush rally in Wisconsin (I was there)
 Many in Crowd Boo (AP HAS CHANGED THE STORY AGAIN!!!))
 "Bush did nothing to stop them (booing audience)"  

Drudge Updating AP Lie (Audience boos as Bush offers best wishes for Clinton's recovery)
 MADE-UP BOOS at the AP? Hmm.
http://instapundit.com/archives/017589.php

AP Bias strikes again
http://spinswimming.blogspot.com/2004/09/ap-bias-strikes-again.html

Lots of references back to FR in the link above.
 
 AP Bias strikes again (Free Republic is cited for finding bias)
 UPDATE: Just so there is no doubt, a Freeper posted a screen capture:

UPDATE #2: Boston.com still has the first version up on their site.

UPDATE#3: Another Freeper who attended the rally checks in.
 I found out who it was...  HERE!!!!
 

60 posted on 09/04/2004 12:33:18 AM PDT by backhoe (Democrats- so 9-10 in a 9-11 World...)
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