Catching the Associated Press in a Lie

It’s kind of amusing to listen to some of the recent carping by major media folks about blogs and then see the Associated Press run a story like this,

President Bush on Friday wished Bill Clinton “best wishes for a swift and speedy recovery.” “He’s is in our thoughts and prayers,” Bush said at a campaign rally. Bush’s audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them.

The problem for the Associated Press is that this part of Bush’s speech was carried by Fox News and there is clearly no booing at all. After Bush says Clinton is “in our thoughts and prayers,” the crowd applauds and shouts encouragement, but there are clearly no audible boos.

Later, the Associated Press came out with a new version of the story ommitting the nonsense about the boos, but the old version is still on hundreds of web sites that subscribe to the Associated Press feed. For example, at Salon.Com the story is headlined Audience boos as Bush offers best wishes for Clinton’s recovery.

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