Asking Questions of the AP (Bush booing fake story)

Power Line ^ | 9/9/04 | John Hinderaker

[Cableguy]

This is the email I sent to the Associated Press this morning:

I am writing to lodge an ethics complaint against Tom Hays and the Associated Press in connection with a story that you published on Friday, Sept. 3. The story was by-lined Tom Hays; it reported on a rally for President Bush in West Allis, Wisconsin. Mr. Hays' story said that: "Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them." These statements were false. Later the same day, the AP released a second version of the article that did not contain these false claims. I have written about this scandal extensively on my web site, Power Line, http://powerlineblog.com. I also have an informant who is a reporter covering the Bush campaign, who was at the West Allis rally, and who saw what happened. Here are what I understand to be the facts:

1) Tom Hays was not at the West Allis rally, even though his by-line appeared on the story.

2) The real source of the story was Scott Lindlaw. Lindlaw was at the rally, along with at least one other reporter from the AP.

3) Lindlaw is a well-known Democratic partisan; my source has heard him say, "My mission is to see that Bush does not get re-elected."

4) During President Bush's speech, Lindlaw had earplugs of some kind in his ears to deaden the noise. This is apparently a common practice of his.

5) After the speech, Lindlaw approached another AP reporter and said that he thought he had heard boos. The other reporter told him, "there weren't any boos." In fact, as the audiotape of the event makes clear, no one booed. No one. No one made any sound that remotely resembled a boo.

6) Despite the fact that he could not hear the crowd, and despite the fact that another reporter from the AP had told him that there were no boos, Scott Lindlaw--a vicious Democratic partisan--lied, and told the world that "Bush's audience of thousands booed," and "Bush did nothing to stop them." This was a conscious, deliberate lie, which Mr. Lindlaw perpetrated for the purpose of helping his own party in the ongoing Presidential campaign.

Now, you tell me--are the above facts correct? What investigation have you carried out of this matter? This appears to me to be a major scandal, which goes to the heart of the Associated Press's credibility as a news organization. Someone here should be fired--Tom Hays, if he really was responsible for the lie, or Scott Lindlaw, if, as my informant says, he was the actual source.

I know for a fact that the White House press corps is buzzing about this scandal and wondering what the Associated Press intends to do. You can't cover this up. You must take appropriate action against the individual or individuals who have betrayed their profession.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss the status of your investigation, and what actions you intend to take.

The AP will not direct telephone calls to a person responsible for complaints, but suggests sending such complaints and inquiries to info@ap.org.

[Cableguy]

I wrote AP a nasty email also. I encourage everyone to do the same. FREEP AP!

[Owl558]

Ditto, I wrote them the day it happened. They completely ignored my email, of course.

[ken5050]

Thanks for posting....I gather you follow the author's work..When more come up, and you post it, kindly ping me...regards...

[mrsmel]

Have done already, I don't think AP, CBS,CNN, or any of the MSM gives a flying fig about their credibility anymore. They know that we know and they don't seem to care. I don't count on them to be any more fair and unbiased,but at least they can know that we know.

[Cableguy]

Sorry, I don't ping people here. Just visit Powerlineblog on a regular basis like I do. One of the better blogs out there.

[ClearCase_guy]

Goldberg wrote the book "Bias" and gathered data from many sources and many different years.

I sure hope that someone (Ann?) is writing a book right now that covers the time period Jan 2004 - Nov 2004 and has the following chapters:

CNN
ABC
CBS
NBC
PBS
MSNBC
NYT
LA Times
Boston Globe
etc

That details headlines, photo choices, story placement, etc. that proves beyond a doubt that good news for Bush is typically given on page E7, and good news for Dems is A1 above the fold.

The (non)coverage of the Swift Vets, the forged papers, the call for National Guard Records, the (non)call for Form 180 ... this year is an amazing year.

[JulieRNR21]

I also sent emails and talked with AP personnel about the false report here:

info@ap.org

212-621-1500

212-621-6060

Freepers: Please keep calling & emailing AP.
They need to issue an apology to the President & those at the Tally.

Make sure the biased Lindlaw is no longer covering the Bush Campaign!

[tioga]

OK, I sent another email. I sent one to knightrider (sp?) who repeated this story and received two polite emails concerning this issue. Nothing from AP. Guess their position as kerry shills would be endangered if they handle this with honesty and decency.

[JulieRNR21]

FYI.......more on the AP false report on Boos at Bush Rally......PING

[JulieRNR21]

Here's the phone# of AP CEO Tom Curley.

His Secretary is courteous and will listen to your comments and have someone get back to you:

212-621-7550

[Sister_T]

I learned from The American Thinker, quoting from Powerline, that an Ohio news site, ONN, had carried that story with the booing byline. I wrote to the contact person. I wasn't nasty or angry; I just simply asked them a question then stated the facts and gave them The American Thinker website that carried the timeline of this story at the time.

The contact was very courteous and said they sent it to their web editor and they would make corrections if they haven't been made already. When I went back to check the page with that Bush-bashing, AP story, it was GONE!

Whoo-hoo! The power of the NEW Media! And the "little folks" like me!

[Jim_Curtis]

There is such an opportunity here if Bush could see it. The worst mistake AP made was the bogus correction.

AP should be banned from any Presidential coverage until a second correction is made. This is so obvious that if the Bush camp fails to act then they almost deserve what AP will continue to do.

[to the core]

Just called...talked to two individuals who listened to me. I told them that an apology was needed -- AP's cedibility was at stake. They did not make any promises as to their actions, but they listened and seemed to be taking notes as they listened. Thanks for the phone numbers!

[q_an_a]

nice work - what will cause the AP to take action is if newspaper editors get these and they start asking questions. The AP customer is not the reader but the news outlet.

[ken5050]

Maybe she WAS courteous, till you posted the number..LOL..I'm getting a busy signal.

[Free2Be49]

I'd like to suggest when posting stories from blogs, instead of posting the url to the home page where a story might be found for a few days, the poster should post the permalink so that weeks from now, we will be able to find the original story.

The permalink for this story is  http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/007763.php .  I did a search on Lindlaw and have found many complaints about his bias on FreeRepublic.  He seems to be one of the most consistantly biased reporters(?).  I wonder why he still has a job.