AP announces merger of news, smart-ass commentary depart

Guest · **Posted:** Mon Oct 21, 2002 1:00 am

From an AP story By Scott Laidlaw on President Bush's planned proposal of a program to make generic persecription drugs more accessible and affordable:"Prescription drugs are a hot-button issue in this year's elections. Looking to squeeze maximum political gain out of the move, the White House told reporters of its move in a conference call Sunday night, ensuring two days worth of headlines."*** Apparently the aforementioned merger was a cost-cutting move in which all desk editors were let go as well ....

Rio · **Posted:** Mon Oct 21, 2002 2:16 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Jim Thomsen:
*** Apparently the aforementioned merger was a cost-cutting move in which all desk editors were let go as well ....<hr></blockquote>I'm going to save the example to send or submit to the next big-media yahoo who sneers at Accuracy In Media, and/or whines about how how shocked - shocked! - he or she is that people find newspapers less relevant.A liberal bias isn't as surprising as how egregious the examples of such bias are becoming. Some reporters aren't even trying to write stories objectively anymore.[ October 21, 2002: Message edited by: Gary Kirchherr ]

rumymommy · **Joined:** Tue Aug 06, 2002 12:01 am **Posts:** 138

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Gary Kirchherr:
Some reporters aren't even trying to write stories objectively anymore.<hr></blockquote>When my copy chief and I asked a reporter who was running the night desk about the fairness of a story in which one candidate's iffy past occupied far more space than the other candidate's experience, the response was "You can't expect every story to be fair. You can't even go into a story expecting it to come out fair."I hope the new reporters coming into the business aren't walking in with this approach, otherwise I might as well work in PR. :(

Finn DeSiecle · **Posted:** Tue Oct 22, 2002 3:23 am

That crap's been going on for years at AP. I'm not even sure it has to do with the politics of the writer; I saw similar "here's why they're really doing this" cynicism passed off as verified fact in stories during the Clinton administration as well. I think it's just that most of the Washington reporters, print and TV, think the mere fact of having that job makes them pundits, with the "responsibility" of "interpreting" our national politics for us.Maybe those of us with time on their hands could call up the AP Washington bureau when they ship stories like this and bust their balls a little: "Hi, I'm calling from the News-Times-Journal-Press-Tribune. Your BUSH-PRESCRIPTIONDRUGS story is missing an attribution: Which of the White House flacks said the timing was planned for 'maximum political gain'? What? None of them did? The writer just put it in there? Ummm, OK, we'll pass this along to our op-ed desk. Are you guys also going to file a news story on this?"

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AP announces merger of news, smart-ass commentary depart

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