Free Republic

Tribune Co., owner of The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and several other news outlets, will not use most Associated Press content next week to test whether the financially struggling company can do without it, according to a story on the Chicago Tribune's Web site. Tribune said it will use some AP material such as sports statistics and stories it considers vital. The Chicago-based company said it is trying to determine whether severing ties with the news cooperative next fall is a viable option. The company's television stations and newspapers' online editions will not participate in the experiment. Tribune...

By now, Sekou Jackson is used to the questions: Why does he need to leave a work meeting to pray? Don't black Muslims convert to Islam in jail? Why would you even want to be Muslim? "It's kind of a double whammy to be African-American and Muslim," said Jackson, who studies the Navy at the National Academy of Science in Washington. "You're going to be judged." Jackson's struggle may have gotten harder when the FBI raided a Detroit mosque Wednesday, saying its leader preached hate against the government, trafficked in stolen goods and belonged to a radical group that wants...

An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports," the Associated Press reports. Time magazine's Joe Klein has not yet labeled the AP's reporting seditious, but the Obama administration does seem to have added the wire service to its enemies list. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite.com reports Ed DeSeve, senior adviser to the president for Recovery Act implementation, complains that "the story draws misleading conclusions" and "looks at only a small portion...

I guess the AP wasn't intimidated by Obama's war on Fox.

The government issues its first estimate of gross domestic product for the third quarter Thursday, and it's expected to validate the belief that the Great Recession is over. Many analysts expect the economy returned to growth in the July-September quarter, expanding at a pace of 3.3 percent. If they are right, it would end the streak of four straight quarters of contraction, the first time that's happened on records dating to 1947. But while the economy appears back on its feet, millions are still suffering. The big question: Will it still be standing after government supports are gone? A turnaround...

Administration slams what it calls a "misleading" Associated Press story alleging the government significantly overstated the number of jobs created or saved under Obama's $787B stimulus program The Obama administration on Thursday slammed a report from The Associated Press alleging the government had overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under President Obama's $787 billion recovery program. The White House seized on an initial report from a government oversight board weeks ago that claimed federal contracts awarded to businesses under the recovery plan already had helped pay for more than 30,000 jobs....

AP Confirms Hyde Amdt Doesn't Prevent Abortion Funding in Health Care Washington, DC -- White House press secretary Robert Gibbs may want to add a Friday news story from the Associated Press to his to-do list today. The article disabuses Gibbs on claims he made in recent weeks saying the Hyde amendment prevent taxpayer-funding of abortion in the health care bills. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5599.html

Shepard Fairey’s claim that he had the right to use a news photo to create his famous Barack Obama “HOPE” poster became a widely watched court case about fair use that now appears to have nearly collapsed. By Friday night, his attorneys — led by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University — said they intend to withdraw from the case and said the artist had misled them by fabricating information and destroying other material. Fairey himself admitted that he didn’t use The Associated Press photo of Obama seated next to actor George Clooney he...

"Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used to make the Hope and Progress posters," Kasi said. "Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions." Kasi said the AP would continue to "vigorously pursue its countersuit alleging that Fairey willfully infringed the AP's copyright in the close-up photo of then-Sen. Obama."

A statement emerged tonight from AP concerning its long battle with artist Shepard Fairey over his use of an AP photo as the basic image for his famous Obama campaign poster. AP claims that Fairey's attorneys admit he tried to destroy some evidence, faking others and that his attorneys have sought to get off the case. Statement from Srinandan R. Kasi, VP and General Counsel, The Associated Press, follows. * Striking at the heart of his fair use case against the AP, Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying...

BEIJING — The leaders of two of the world’s major news organizations said Friday that it is time for search engines and others who use news content for free to pay up. The comments from Tom Curley of The Associated Press and News Corp. [NWS]’s Rupert Murdoch come as the media industry struggles in the Internet age. Many news companies contend that sites such as Google have reaped a fortune from their articles, photos and video without fairly compensating the news organizations producing the material. "We content creators have been too slow to react to the free exploitation of news...

Ukraine will hand 12 T-84 Oplot tanks, developed by the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, to Georgia in October, Verkhovna Rada deputy Valerii Konovaliuk of the Party of Regions faction has announced to the press.

Just asking. When you capitalize a period of time like the Age of Discovery, the Industrial Revolution, the Space Age or the Great Depression, you mark it as an historical era. Rachel Beck, writing for the Associated Press, has capitalized her two references to the Great Recession.

Pastor Lawrence Adams knows how to handle a gun after spending 25 years as a Detroit police officer, many at the department’s training academy. That experience helped Sunday evening when the retired lieutenant was confronted by a burglar at his Detroit church. When the intruder began swinging an object at him, Pastor Adams pulled a handgun and shot the man in the abdomen. Police say the pastor was not injured and is licensed to carry the handgun.

Posters's Note: This is from the ACTUAL AP newsrelase!! ****************************************************** OK, can you do some more probing? New York will want to know frank's out today. i checked already, and so did zurich. they say the question is irrelevant. he answered me with the quote i used, about we knew when he was coming this time. he's been here many times in the past, we think. thx brad. aptn is aware, but unfortunately won't make it in time, but is hoping to catch tail end. i'm pushing out another writethru with some more background details before press conference. no surprise,...

(AP) An advocacy group under fire after employees were caught on camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman's profession to get housing help said Wednesday it is ordering an independent investigation. **snip** In the film, O'Keefe and Giles enter an ACORN office in Brooklyn and O'Keefe can be heard stating that "we have a unique life situation" and asking if the pair qualify for housing help. The ACORN housing coordinator and office administrator apparently urge the couple to lie about the woman's profession, with the housing coordinator suggesting that the...

Journalism Is Dead: Part 1,749,212. The Associated Press must have wandered too far outside of its Obama Comfort Zone last week when it attempted an open act of journalism after the president's health care speech. Not to worry, their lips are dutifully crowding the executive derriere once more. Assessing the ever-dimming prospects for the Democrats in 2010, AP reporter Beth Fouhy (my guess: registered Independent but has never even looked at a Republican's name on a ballot) creates the illusion of doing her job objectively but maintains her Obama cred with the use of a few craftily employed words and...

Dropouts Seek a Boost From Equivalency Exams Numbers Seeking a Degree Swell -- But Gains May Be Limited A growing number of Americans are taking high school equivalency tests in their hunt for any leg up in a bleak labor market. Adult-education centers across the country report backlogs and waiting lists for prep courses cramming dozens of topics and years of lessons into weeks or months. But the potential for a better job and pay that drives many to seek a General Educational Development diploma comes with a caveat: The certificate generally is of limited value unless students use it...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional aides say the Obama administration has chosen a Colorado natural resources official to be the new agriculture undersecretary in charge of the U.S. Forest Service. Harris Sherman, executive director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, is to be nominated as soon as Thursday. The congressional aides familiar with the decision spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House had yet to announce it.

Arguably violating its embed agreement, the near universal press practice since 9/11, and the expressed wishes of the family, the Associated Press went ahead and published a photograph of mortally wounded Marine Lance Corporal Joshua "Bernie" Bernard, killed in action in Afghanistan. The AP also ignored the pleas of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who had implored the press agency as a "matter of judgment and common decency" not to publish the photo. Bernard, 21, a devout Christian and Iraq War veteran from Maine, was described by his squad leader as "a true-heartedly very good guy ... probably one of...

I feel guilty because originally I supported the decision by the Associated Press to release the photo of the young Marine that was taken as he lay dying. I lost readers over that and I do not blame them. Sarah Palin weighed in on Facebook. "Many of us join Secretary Gates in condemning the Associated Press for its heartless and selfish decision to turn its back on the wishes of a grieving family in order to exploit the tragic death of a true American hero. Lance Corporal Joshua ‘Bernie’ Bernard was a selfless young American who sacrificed everything for our...

On August 14 in Afghanistan, Marine LCPL Joshua Bernard was killed in action when he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. As Bernard lay maimed and dying, embedded Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobsen smelled a Pulitzer, so she snapped picture after gory picture instead of helping those trying to save LCPL Bernard. After the young Marine was buried, the AP dispatched a minion to Bernard’s parents, John and Sharon, ostensibly to “get their permission” for the publication of the gruesome photograph. John Bernard emphatically denied their request,

KABUL — A Swedish charity accused American troops Monday of storming through a hospital in central Afghanistan, breaking down doors and tying up staff in a search for militants. The U.S. military said it was investigating.

Many of us join Secretary Gates in condemning the Associated Press for its heartless and selfish decision to turn its back on the wishes of a grieving family in order to exploit the tragic death of a true American hero. Lance Corporal Joshua 'Bernie' Bernard was a selfless young American who sacrificed everything for our freedom. Shame on the AP for purposely adding to the grieving family's pain. Ignoring the family's wishes by publishing a sacred image of their loved one proved a despicable and heartless act by the AP. The family said they didn't want the photo published. AP,...

NEW YORK (AP) ― The Associated Press is distributing a photo of a Marine fatally wounded in battle, choosing after a period of reflection to make public an image that conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it. Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, of New Portland, Maine, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. The image shows fellow Marines helping Bernard after he suffered severe leg injuries. He was evacuated to a field hospital where he died on the operating table.

Al Qaeda two largest terrorist forums are celebrating the despicable AP photo of our Marine Hero during his moment of death. The two largest Al Qaeda forums are called “Al Falojah” and “Shoomookh Al Islam”. The translation to English is in italic Translation from “Al Falojah” terrorist forum thread # 82382 titled: “A Gift: The Pentagon is shocked by the publication of an American soldier breathing his last breath, picture is attached”. Then members of "al falojah" terrorist forum commented by saying “To Hell and have the worst fate” and “allah damn him and damn anyone who mourns him, we...

I posted this Saddam regime document translation on September 9 2006 but in light of the Associated Press despicable act to publish a picture of a dying Marine Hero, I think it is worth reposting again to show what the despicable AP is really about. Document ISGQ-2005-00026108.pdf dated July 25 2000 is a report from an Iraqi Intelligence officer to different Iraqi Intelligence Directorates talking about information provided to them from a trusted source that works in the Associated Press (AP). The information is about the formation a newly formed UN weapons inspectors team called UNMOVIC. Translation of page 4...

In the Politico today, Secretary Gates admonishes the AP for publishing a photo of Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard dying in Afghanistan: Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.” The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published. AP reported in a story that it...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.” The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published. The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway, because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2009 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates used the strongest terms in trying to persuade the Associated Press to refrain from running a graphic picture of a Marine taken shortly after the servicemember was wounded in southern Afghanistan, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said here today. Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard later died on the operating table Aug. 14. The Marine’s family in New Portland, Maine, asked the Associated Press not to run the photo, which was taken by Julie Jacobson, who was embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. The AP put...

NEW YORK – Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed disappointment Friday at news outlets that used a picture taken and distributed by The Associated Press depicting a U.S. Marine mortally wounded in combat in Afghanistan. The AP distributed the picture despite personal pleas from Gates and the dead Marine's family in a case that illustrated the difficult decisions in reporting on a conflict where Americans have seen relatively few images of fallen U.S. troops over eight years.

... The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published. The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.” The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, according to The AP. Gates...

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.” The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.rest of story at link...

WASHINGTON — The White House plans to announce the federal deficit is about $262 billion less than officials predicted earlier this year — in part because the administration has provided less aid than expected to Wall Street. The federal deficit this year will total $1.58 trillion, a senior White House official said late Wednesday. That's three times more red ink than last year. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the report before its release next Tuesday while President Barack Obama will be on vacation in Massachusetts.

In an August 17 piece on former DNC Chair Howard Dean's appearance on a morning news show, the Associated Press did its best to downplay the high passions and anger showed by thousands of average citizens at townhall meetings across the country. Dean was heard insisting that Obama not back down from including the "public option" in any healthcare bill, saying that such a feature is "indispensable" to its success at reforming our healthcare system. After the opening paragraphs, the AP characterized the possible removal of the public option by emphasizing Republicans and downplaying the outrage seen by citizens themselves....

Your local newspaper, as has mine, has likely carried Associated Press stories asserting that the notion of "death panels" has been debunked. Here is a fair-use quote from the lead paragraph of a front-page, above-the-fold, AP story, dated 15 Auguest, by AP writer Liz Sidoti: "he challenged the debunked notion" Google on this phrase or "debunked AND death panels". You will find a large number of media assertions, including some from the AP, simply asserting that the death panel notion has been debunked.

Does the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger moonlight as a Code Pink operative? There has to be something that explains what I'll call his Iraqnaphobia. Last month (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), the AP reporter erroneously cited the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as a "major factor" explaining why "the deficit has widened." In a quick review of the related June 2009 Monthly Treasury Statement, I cited three examples of higher spending in other areas of government that were larger than last year, both in dollar and percentage terms, than the $33 billion, 7% increase in total defense spending....

WASHINGTON – Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says the health care overhaul bill would set up a "death panel." Federal bureaucrats would play God, ruling on whether ailing seniors are worth enough to society to deserve life-sustaining medical care. Palin and other critics are wrong. Nothing in the legislation would carry out such a bleak vision. The provision that has caused the uproar would instead authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care, if the patient wishes.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Obama administration is preparing a set of about 50 benchmarks for Afghanistan, senior officials said Monday, redefining how to measure success in a war now widely assessed as a stalemate. The benchmarks will test how well the U.S. military and civilian "surges" ordered by President Barack Obama are working. The new measures, ordered by Congress, are due Sept. 24 amid creeping skepticism among many Democrats about the war's prognosis and costs.

AP Misleads Readers on Abortion, Health Care, and Obama Washington, DC -- The Associated Press is coming under criticism from pro-life advocates who say its recent wrap-up article on the health care debate is misleading. AP writer Charles Babington wrote a "fact check" story attempting to make the case that abortion is not included in the health care bills and that President Barack Obama doesn't want it to be included. But, Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, says that's not the case. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5311.html

Here’s one of the most short-sighted and self-destructive things I’ve ever seen the Associated Press do — they’re going to try to prevent search engines and blogs from even linking to their articles, unless they pay for the privilege.

Watching Associated Press reports evolve, or as is all too often the case, devolve, can be a revealing exercise. Example: What happened between 8 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday that would have caused the Associated Press and writer Nancy Benac to water down the headline and opening paragraphs of their story about the Obama-Gates-Crowley situation from this.... OBAMA RUSHES TO QUELL RACIAL UPROAR HE HELPED FIRE .... to this? (after the jump) OBAMA MOVES TO DAMPEN UPROAR OVER COMMENT ON RACE

A.P. Cracks Down on Unpaid Use of Articles on Web By RICHARD PEREZ-PENA Taking a new hard line that news articles should not turn up on search engines and Web sites without permission, The Associated Press said Thursday that it would add software to each article that shows what limits apply to the rights to use it, and that notifies The A.P. about how the article is used. Tom Curley, The A.P.’s president and chief executive, said the company’s position was that even minimal use of a news article online required a licensing agreement with the news organization that produced...

The Associated Press is becoming the enemy of the internet because it is fighting the link and the link is the basis of the internet. From Richard Perez-Pena’s New York Times story today: Tom Curley, The A.P.’s president and chief executive, said the company’s position was that even minimal use of a news article online required a licensing agreement with the news organization that produced it. In an interview, he specifically cited references that include a headline and a link to an article, a standard practice of search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, news aggregators and blogs. Them’s fightin’...

NEWARK, N.J. – An investigation into the sale of black-market kidneys and fake Gucci handbags evolved into a sweeping probe of political corruption in New Jersey, ensnaring more than 40 people Thursday, including three mayors, two state lawmakers and several rabbis. Even for a state with a rich history of graft, the scale of wrongdoing alleged was breathtaking. An FBI official called corruption "a cancer that is destroying the core values of this state." Federal prosecutors said the investigation initially focused on a money laundering network that operated between Brooklyn, N.Y.; Deal, N.J.; and Israel. The network is alleged to...

This morning, some 30 people were arrested in New Jersey, the fruit of a two-year federal investigation into a international money laundering scandal. Among those arrested were Democratic Mayors Peter Cammarano III (Hoboken) and Dennis Elwell (Secaucus), as well as Democratic deputy mayor of Jersey City Leona Beldini and Republican state Assemblyman Daniel Van Pelt. But if you only got your news of this mass arrest from the Associated Press, you would not learn the party affiliation of these politicians. To their credit, other news outlets readily accessible to New Jerseyans such as the New York Times and the Wall...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US news agency the Associated Press, in a move aimed at protecting its content online, announced on Thursday it was building a "news registry" that would track the use of its stories on the Web. The New York-based AP, a cooperative owned by more than 1,400 US newspapers, said that the news registry will "tag and track all AP content online to assure compliance with terms of use." "The system will register key identifying information about each piece of content that AP distributes as well as the terms of use of that content, and employ a...

The Associated Press story about the leaked report on the legal defense fund complaint is a clear example of media malpractice. Rachel D’Oro erroneously reported that Gov. Palin was found in violation of the Ethics Act. That is completely false. The leaked document was a preliminary report -- the first part of a long process. Gov. Palin’s own attorney stated: “The resolution of the Trust Fund is not final. I have been working with the investigator regarding supplemental information. The matter is still pending. Whatever you have seen was released in violation of law. There has been no Board finding...

Steve Gilbert checks online into the background of the investigator who preposterously suggests in an illegally leaked preliminary report that there was something unethical in the creation and operation of the Palin defense fund, set up to defray the over half a million dollars in legal fees the Governor has incurred fighting off an unending series of frivolous ethics charges. Here's what he found: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DANIEL, THOMAS ANCHORAGE, AK 99507 PERKINS COIE LLP/ATTORNEY KERRY, JOHN F VIA JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC 03/07/2004 1000.00 25971240087 DANIEL, THOMAS M ANCHORAGE, AK 99501 PERKINS COIE/ATTORNEY BEGICH, MARK VIA ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 08/14/2008...

WASHINGTON (AP) - One of the nation's top safety officials is putting manufacturers on notice: Comply with new rules aimed at keeping children's products safe, or face the potential of big fines. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said Tuesday that her agency will get new enforcement tools next month—and she plans to use them in order to protect consumers, especially children.