[OldPossum]

Thanks for the e-mail addresses. I wrote to one. It seems to me that Mr. Hays is beyond redemption.

Here's what I wrote:

Dear Mr. Curley:

You know, now that the common people have other means of access to the news (primarily talk radio and the Internet), organizations such as AP will be able to fool some of the people some of the time, but the day is coming, sir, when knowledgeable individuals, upon seeing "AP" on a story in a newspaper, will just turn the page. (Some of them might even write to the newspaper editor to complain about their even using AP material, tainted as it is with Democratic/liberal leanings; I know I will.)

Once you lose your credibility, you lose everything.

Just keep people such as Mr. Tom Hays on your payroll and you'll soon be there.

Regards,

[mrustow]

Excellent, but it's not just Hays. Since the URL itself said "crowd boos," I think there was at least one editor in on this.

[marktwain]

but the day is coming, sir, when knowledgeable individuals, upon seeing "AP" on a story in a newspaper, will just turn the page.

Funny you should state this, because it is what I already do. I became disenchanted with AP on a couple of stories that were obvious distortions of the actual events in order to make political points.

I recall that one of them was about the law school shooting where students with guns stopped the shooter. The AP editor acknowledged that he knew that the students had guns, but did not include it in the story. He said that he was horrified that the students had guns.