Posted on 09/07/2004 4:25:39 PM PDT by andyk
After falsely reporting that a crowd President Bush was speaking to booed after he wished President Clinton a speedy recovery from heart surgery, the Associated Press has refused to identify the reporter who filed the story or say what punishment he or she might face.
The original report stated: "A crowd at a Bush rally in West Allis, Wis., booed when President Bush offered ex-President Clinton best wishes for a speedy recovery from coronary bypass surgery scheduled for next week."
Milwaukee talk radio stations WTMJ and WISN were first to debunk the report.
At WTMJ, talk-show host Jeff Wagner's producer, Dan Walsh said, "We carried the President's speech live, which included the applause for his best wishes for Clinton's recovery. There was no booing and we had a large number of calls deploring what AP reported."
At Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Milwaukee, communications director John Brain said, "We received lots of outraged calls about AP, which put this untruth on their national wire. West Allis is a Milwaukee suburb and two Milwaukee talk-radio stations, WISN and WTMJ, played what was undoubtedly applause and not booing."
On the day after its original report had been circulated nationwide, AP sent out the following correction:
"This is a correction to an incorrect story posted by AP on Friday stating the crowd booed the president when he sent his good wishes. The crowd, in fact, did NOT boo."
Telephone inquiries to the AP in both Washington and New York – as to who was the reporter who put this falsehood on their national wire – resulted in references to higher authority.
On Sunday afternoon at 5:46 p.m. Eastern, Jack Stokes, director of media relations of the Associated Press, sent an e-mail that stated:
"The Associated Press does not comment on personnel issues."
To which Milwaukee Bush-Cheney's Brain responded:
"Can you imagine most corporations responding like this?"
So, the identity of just which AP reporter put this falsehood on their national wire will remain concealed by the world's largest news-gathering service.
None of the media that depend on AP for news will be allowed to know who did this, or whether he or she has been fired for this nationally circulated falsehood.
A transcript of Bush's remarks released by the White House noted applause after Bush offered Clinton "best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery."
ABC Radio Network news also confirmed that the Clinton reference was applauded, not jeered. In its original version of the story, the AP had reported: "Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."
someone posted the name email address of the reporter on here earlier today --- along with his boss's
Wasn't it Tom Hayes?
bump
ah-ha, I had not heard that.
Sadly, yes I can. They don't want to get sued and lose.
he/she will probably be severely reprimanded:
1 week off with pay.
Message I sent previously...
Come on HAMMER THE AP FOR THEIR FRAUD AND COVER UP!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
info@ap.org; adalton@knightridder.com; thays@ap.org; tcurley@ap.org
And I copied the following conservative media outlets
chall@cnsnews.com; adams_mike@hotmail.com; dlimbaugh@worldnetdaily.com; ilana@ilanamercer.com; ivanlee@talkamerica.com; OldRightWingGal@yahoo.com; production@talkamerica.com; liberty@fcref.org; michael.a.savage@abc.com; Talkback@cnn.com; wxyt@wxyt.com; Beyondthenews@foxnews.com; Colmes@foxnews.com; Comments@foxnews.com; Foxnewsnow@foxnews.com; Friends@foxnews.com; Newswatch@foxnews.com; oreilly@foxnews.com; Speakout@foxnews.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do Tom Hays and Jason Blair have something in common--, false reporting?
Unlike the New York Times however, the AP and Knight-Ridder have decided to try to bury the false reporting and cover it up. Why do the AP and Knight-Ridder, *supposedly* objective news reporting organizations, see fit to attack Republicans?
The AP and Knight-Ridder should seriously consider making a VERY POINTED EFFORT to openly correct this and help Mr. Hays understand that false reporting is NOT tolerated by the AP or by Knight-Ridder. Or is it?
Please see:
http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article3765.html (excerpt below)
Last commented, “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.”
This story is beginning to get legs, to demonstrate the sheer bias and passionate contempt the "main stream media" has for Republicans and conservatives. Isn't it time you made a very public effort of ensuring that there is a serious effort at correcting this?
And shouldn't the AP also take a few of the Anti-Bush photos from its web site? Your passionate hatred of Bush and Republicans is only too obvious.
Bill Wood
Perhaps Tom and AP should ask themselves why they have to lie to get Kerry elected. Perhaps logic is not known to democrats and I have to say this is true for my democratic mother who would vote democrat if Castro was running!!!!!
Ping!
Tom Hays is correct. I sent him and his boss an email, but don't expect a reply. The link to the email addresses is in several threads. Do a search on Hays and you'll find his email address.
It seems Freedom of Speech is always to be considered a right and then the Freedom of the Press. But, shouldn’t we have right to be told the truth by the press? Does this not have a precedent?
It seems I did learn much the past week from the Beslan Terrorist Reports, a quote from there follows,
“Pravda" is Russian for "Truth", "Isvestia" is Russian for "News".
The Soviet-era Russians had a saying, "In Pravda there is no News and in Izvestia there is no Truth".
In Truth there is no News and in News there is no Truth”
If we only heard the truth, instead of the spin………………………………..
Here is the response I received from Borenstein concerning the Knight-Ridder contribution in perpetuating this fraud:
.......................................................
Thanks for e-mailing. On Saturday, a correction was sent out. Let me explain
what happened so you can understand this was not some case of media bias or
whatever. This was not a case of me being a liar, but a simple fallable
human who makes a mistake. Unfortunately in this politically charged
atmosphere, people would rather accuse someone of being a liar than
understanding that we are all humans, make mistakes and as the Bible says,
deserve forgiveness. As a science correspondent, I was writing, from
Washington, a story on the Clinton surgery and heart problem. I was sent an
insert about Kerry mentioning the Clinton surgery and I tried to balance it
with something taken from AP on Bush mentioning it. Since much of the e-mail
I am getting seems generated by some web site that vilifies reporters, I
recommend you read the entire story instead of someone's edited version of
it. When you do you will see this hardly a case of the media bashing Bush
supporters. It is a case of a rushed reporter stupidly _ and in error _
using an AP story in half a sentence and not crediting AP. The full story is
here: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/9577034.htm
I was in error not mentioning AP's contribution and in using what was later
retracted by AP. When Knight Ridder learned of AP's retraction, we sent out
a similar correction Saturday at 3: 16 pm. The correction is here:
^BC-MED-CLINTON-BYPASS-CORRECTIVE:WA _ national, world, xtop, itop (70@
words)
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
(KRT)
Editors who used MED-CLINTON-BYPASS:WA (Borenstein), which moved Friday, are
asked to use the following:
___
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
A story about plans for former President Clinton to undergo heart surgery
incorrectly reported that some people at a campaign appearance booed when
President Bush wished Clinton well. There were no boos.
___
(c) 2004, Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
AP-NY-09-04-04 1516EDT
I hope this helps. If it doesn't or you have any other questions, please
e-mail me.
Sincerely,
Seth Borenstein.
Seth Borenstein
National Correspondent
Knight Ridder Newspapers
700 12th St. NW, Suite 1000,
Washington, DC 20005-3994
(note new mail address as of June 21, 2004)
202-383-6102
www.krwashington.com
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/seth_borenstein/
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS: Philadelphia Inquirer * Detroit Free Press * Miami
Herald * San Jose Mercury News * Kansas City Star * Fort Worth Star-Telegram
* The Charlotte Observer * St. Paul Pioneer Press * Contra Costa Newspapers
* Philadelphia Daily News * Akron Beacon Journal * Lexington Herald Leader *
The (Columbia) State * The Wichita Eagle * el Nuevo Herald
* The Macon Telegraph * Belleville News Democrat * Tallahassee Democrat *
The (Wilkes-Barre) Times Leader * Duluth News Tribune * Columbus
Ledger-Enquirer * The (Biloxi) Sun Herald * The (Fort Wayne) News-Sentinel *
The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News
* Bradenton Herald * Grand Forks Herald * The (San Luis Obispo) Tribune *
The (Monterey County) Herald * (State College) Centre Daily Times * Aberdeen
American News * The Olathe Daily News
At least the reporter for Knight-Ridder Newspapers,Seth Borenstein, apologized and admitted his error. He even asked for forgiveness. Pretty classy. But AP news service rejects any need to apologize for their intential smear. Very interesting.
I just received the identical email back from him too.
Okay, you may be right. However, I think that is as close to an apology as you will see from the major news services. GLTY and have a good evening.
OK. Tell me how this works, someone. What is the AP? Where does its payroll come from? On whom can we put economic pressure?
Who's its competition? Reuters (also rotten)? UPI (still respectable, last I heard) ? Anyone else? Can we scare some already-on-the-ropes newspapers by promising to cancel subscriptions if they don't find an alternative wire service?
What about someone's suggestion yesterday that the WI Republican Party &/or the people at the rally sue AP for libel? Is that a possibiity?
We can not let this die. The AP is the most important news-disseminating organ in the country & it has stopped desseminating the news & started manufacturing its own. It has to be stopped.
What is the most effective action we can take?
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