September 19, 2006

Blogometer Extra

BLOGGERS VS. MSM: Defeat Switched From Jaws Of Victory

Tom Bevan at The RCP Blog, with the help of a keen-eyed reader, uncovered a doozy of a swap at the Associated Press on Friday.

Bevan quotes a reader's email:

I ... have a criticism regarding the way you posted yesterday's AP piece 'Polls Show GOP Not Making Its Case.'  That's the way the AP titled it, at least.  You guys decided to title it on your site 'GOP Gains Ground In Battle For Congress.'

After some Googling around, Bevan--who posted the AP item at RCP under its original title--realized that "sometime between roughly 6:30 am and 10:26 am the Associated Press switched the header on the story about its own poll results from being pro-GOP to something decidedly more negative."

Upon reading the full article, a case for either headline could be made, but why the switch?  Noel Sheppard at NewsBusters did some investigating: "[T]he AP write in question, Liz Sidoti, actually created six versions of this story with two published at AP, two at AP Online, and two at AP Worldstream."  Sheppard acknowledges that wire services often host differing versions of the same article, but asks, "Why is the AP writing articles about its own poll with differing views of the poll's results that include completely different titles?  This almost suggests that the wire service is offering differing content on the same issue for subscribers of differing political leaning."  The plot thickens... or maybe it doesn't.

Posted by Conn Carroll at September 19, 2006 06:02 AM