[flashbunny]

and I don't think the AP has named the writer who wrote this lie.

[Pearls Before Swine]

If they retract (a big IF), AP will note that the report was meant to say "cheers" but through a typographical error, it said "jeers." Anyone could make that mistake, no?

[Jeff Chandler]

Caught in the act! The Old Media is has become a very silly joke.

[Stellar Dendrite]

Hope Rush talks about this on Monday.

[Keith in Iowa]

The AP has failed in this feeble attempt at gluteus protectus.

[Gunder]

Thanks for the update. This is infuriating. Not surprising, but still infuriating.

[Chaffer]

The Media elite.

They can't get away with this stuff anymore...   and they hate it !

Ain't it great ?

[TheLion]

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

Just watch the film clip idiots! Pretty easy to see it was very respectful.

[Jim_Curtis]

I couldn't understand why the ABC radio news today mentioned "the crowd was surprised and went 'ooooh'". They were inserting the spin for their earlier lie right into the news story even though most listening to the news report were unaware of the earlier lie.

No news report would mention that the crowd went "oooh" normally, it is irrelevant to the story.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

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

Oh yeah. I always have difficulty differentiating between Oohs and Boos. ~sarcasm off~

[Dallas59]

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.

[Joy Angela]

John Ziegler speaks out on the Booing
on the Air Now!

http://www.kfi640.com/interactive/streaming.html

[crushelits]

Swimming through the Spin http://spinswimming.blogspot.com/2004/09/ap-bias-strikes-again.html SCREEN CAPTURE:

[Clinging Bitterly]

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.

[Salman]

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.

[Iam1ru1-2]

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.

[tame]

Steve Glass is at AP now?

[Avenger]

"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.

[Avenger]

"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.

[Eva]

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