If you're going to call or email the AP to complain about the
Calvin Woodward hack job, you might as well throw this in as well: Nedra Pickler's AP "
story" on the debate.
JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) -- In a feisty, first debate of the election year, Howard Dean drew fire from fellow Democrats on Sunday over trade, terror, taxes and more, then calmly dismissed his rivals as "co-opted by the agenda of George Bush."
"I opposed the Iraq war when everyone else up here was for it," said the former Vermont governor, invoking the issue that helped fuel his 2003 transformation from asterisk in the polls to front-runner.
Clark and Sharpton weren't around, but war opponents Kucinich and Braun were. So Dean lied! Again!!!
That quote is so juicy, let's stick it up high in the story. Second graf, indeed! Except -- and we're starting to see a pattern here -- Nedra and the AP got it all wrong.
From the Debate Transcript (and I remember this moment in the debate, so I know the transcript is accurate):
DEAN: The proper role of the federal government in education is not to pass bills like No Child Left Behind. I have two big policy differences with almost everybody up here. I opposed the Iraq war; with the exception of Dennis and Carol, everybody else supported it.
But why let simple things like, say, transcripts and the truth, get in the way of a good made-up mythical pretend quote, especially if it further's Nedra's fantasies of "lying" Democrats?
But here's an idea for Calvin Woodward's next AP "news" bit:
For a brief time, my AP colleague Nedra Picker and I seemed to be hewing to our New Year's resolution to stick more carefully to the facts on our news reporting and more. But old habits die hard.
Boy, the AP made a
serious mess in their debate coverage. This shit needs to put to an end now. We'll do our part. The PR hacks at the DNC better do theirs. The candidates' PR hacks also.
Update: Don't just focus on the AP. If your local paper runs either of these two stories, call them up and complain. You can believe that if their member papers (who pay the AP's bills) complain about the quality of AP's stories, the AP will get the message better than we can deliver it directly.
Another Update: Nedra's contact info:
Phone: 202.776.9421
email: npickler@ap.org
And don't forget to cc' the AP's main email address:
info@ap.org