Hundreds of papers use AP unedited

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:07 pm

Iraq's U.N. envoy Mohammed Al-Douri charged that the United States had arranged for contracts to rebuild Iraq in 1997, six years before the U.S.-led war began last week. ... Almost spluttering, he said the United States now was using the issue of humanitarian aid to hide its "criminal aggression." ***Either you're spluttering or you're not.***

aneye4detail · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2003 10:13 pm

I don't know why I never thought about this question before, but are we allowed to edit AP and to what degree?

Matthew Grieco · **Posted:** Thu Mar 27, 2003 11:40 pm

You could probably write a story yourself, put AP's byline on it, and nobody would ever notice or complain.Seriously, I don't believe there's any such thing as editing AP copy too heavily. If you don't like something, take it out. If something's missing, write it yourself and put it in. Learning to be cavalier with AP copy is one of the great joys of being a full-time wire editor. Trust me, they are NOT going to notice anything your paper does with their copy, and they wouldn't complain if they did.When I first became a wire editor I had a messianic complex and thought it was my duty to call AP whenever I spotted a problem in their copy. Then I realized that they couldn't care less. I once called them about a major factual error in a story and suggested they send a correction, and the reply I got was: "We're out of cycle on that story. If you think it's wrong, we never care if you change it."That's verbatim.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:02 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by aneye4detail:
I don't know why I never thought about this question before, but are we allowed to edit AP and to what degree?<hr></blockquote>Allowed? You had damn well better!I thought it was well understood that you can do anything you want to wire-service copy. The No. 1 problem in small- to mid-size papers is that it is run unedited.[ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]

aneye4detail · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:46 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Allowed? You had damn well better!I thought it was well understood that you can do anything you want to wire-service copy. The No. 1 problem in small- to mid-size papers is that it is run unedited.[ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote>Cool. I'll be sure to do that from now on.

gullyj · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:17 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Iraq's U.N. envoy Mohammed Al-Douri charged that the United States had arranged for contracts to rebuild Iraq in 1997...<hr></blockquote>Which reminds me of a line I heard the other day (and stop me if you've heard this one... oops, too late):
"How does Dick Cheney know Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?"
"He has the receipts."

JonScribe · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2003 7:15 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
Allowed? You had damn well better![ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote>Careful, Phil; you're spluttering.

Hawkeye · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2003 11:20 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by canuck:
"How does Dick Cheney know Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?"
"He has the receipts."<hr></blockquote>I love it!

jmcg · **Posted:** Fri Mar 28, 2003 11:58 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
I thought it was well understood that you can do anything you want to wire-service copy. The No. 1 problem in small- to mid-size papers is that it is run unedited.[ March 28, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]<hr></blockquote>A related reminder, and almost as important, involves the copy moved by the better news services -- New York Times, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post. Their stories aren't beyond editing, either.

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