AP Kills Limbaugh Painkillers Story (QUICK BEFORE IT CHANGES)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52369-2004Jan3.html ^ | January 3, 2003w

[mabelkitty]

AP Kills Limbaugh Painkillers Story

The Associated Press Saturday, January 3, 2004; 5:06 PM

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Please kill the story Limbaugh-Painkillers, V9991. Rush Limbaugh has not been charged with doctor shopping.

A kill is mandatory.

Make certain the story is not used.

[mabelkitty]

The Rush Limbaugh News Service?? This is all there is. No excerpting. Please correct if I err'ed. It isn't an "article" per se.

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[Pikamax]

still in the washington post wire file


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/style/latestap/

[NYC GOP Chick]

You are correct in that it's not a story -- it's a Kill Order (or an Alert) to the AP's members.

[Ramius]

Well, OK, it's a little odd that a story would be killed in this fashion by an editor. But it is true... he hasn't been charged with anything yet.

Looks like a story was submitted to the site that had this or other factual error in it and an editor caught it at what would appear to be the last minute.

[mabelkitty]

Wrong. Not caught. Published and printed.

[xzins]

This looks like some kind of editorial instructions that have been posted online.

I wonder if it was inadvertently posted?

[js1138]

You mean kill this story?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52382-2004Jan3.html

[rs79bm]

Wow...this is something. I've never seen them issue such an order. You would think they would have editors that would have gotten to this story long before they had to issue a "kill" order.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Nice to see Baghdad Bob found work at AP after the Iraq gig ran out.

[IronJack]

I saw this story in today's paper. If indeed Limbaugh has NOT been charged, then the authors/purveyors of this story are in danger of libel.

Advantage: Limbaugh.

[mabelkitty]

Kinda like when Richard Jewell was accused?

snicker snicker.

[js1138]

Or kill this one?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52369-2004Jan3.html

I think a lot of people should save the source for both these stories befor they ar sent to the memory hole.

[CyberAnt]

FOX was reporting tonight that Rush had made a statement regarding his being attacked for political reasons. He has been reported as saying that he believes they (I'm assuming this means his attorney) have information which proves their claim.

This could be hugh .. and even series!

I will be listening on Monday to see what the scoop is.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Not necessarily. I used to be a reporter at a fairly large NY daily paper, and the wires used to put out kill orders on stories. Things change, new facts come to light, sloppy reporting gets caught, etc.

[Dont Mention the War]

This looks like some kind of editorial instructions that have been posted online. I wonder if it was inadvertently posted?

Yes and yes. A "kill" is issued by the AP when an article recently sent over the wires is found to contain a major, glaring error. (Such as this one.) It's an order to all AP members not to run the story.

But the Washington Post, like most news sites, has its AP wire page automated, and as a result things like this occasionally slip through and get published as live web pages by mistake.

There is nothing rare about a "kill," by the way. The AP sends them out every single day, because they make that many mistakes.

[Ex-Dem]

Another one:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52235-2004Jan3.html

[Space Dawg]

This is the article to be killed:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52235-2004Jan3.html

Notice the lead sentence (obviously not true):

Rush Limbaugh is only the second person charged with "doctor shopping" by Palm Beach County prosecutors in the last five years, according to a review of court records.

[Dont Mention the War]

Wow...this is something. I've never seen them issue such an order.

That's because you're not meant to see them. Such orders go out from the AP several times a day.

You would think they would have editors that would have gotten to this story long before they had to issue a "kill" order.

Yeah, you'd think, but believe me, they don't. They have editors, but not all stories are edited before being sent, especially when they have things like "kills" to recall bad stories after they've already gone out.

[lawdude]

It appears to me this was posted as a CYA measure in case some WP group went ahead and published something that could cost millions to the Publishers. E.g., if they printed comments that were absolutely wrong and did so maliciously (some editor w/ a HO for Rush) they could end up being the Rush EIB news.

By publishing this, they can say they went to "embarrassing" lengths to squash the story.