Gawker
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memos
AP Tells Reporters To Muzzle Facebook Friends
Someone sent us the Associated Press' guidelines for staff social networking and, in keeping with company tradition, they're on the paranoid side. You should probably read them, since basically everyone in the world must now follow them. More »
8,355
10
By Ryan TateComment by DrunkRobot: WTF? I may be wrong but if you work for the AP, you'd fall into one of three categories. Your... 1 Responses | Other threads
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censorship
Is the Associated Press Aiding Iranian Censorship?
Trying to report from a country like Iran under state-mandated censorship is hard. The Associated Press is making it harder by caving to the demands of the Iranian regime and refusing to allow its Iranian subscribers to use this photo. More »
3,267
By John CookComment by Jim Cahill: Uh, Iran already has access to the image. The picture is even taken from IRIB TV in Tehran. Those exclusions... 1 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
AP Spanks Reporter for Patently True Facebook Post
Richard Richtmyer is in trouble with his bosses at the Associated Press for something he wrote on Facebook. Did he burn a source? Trash a story subject? Worse: He mildly criticized one of AP's hundreds of members. More »
6,854
By Ryan TateComment by ndhapple: More importantly, are they ever going to get around to fixing the clusterfuck of an unusable mess that is 'AP... 3 Responses | Other threads
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print is dead
How to Pry Money Out of Google
The New York Times and Washington Post are in informal talks about the online news business. The obvious subtext: The newspapers want Google to pay for their headlines. They're going about it all wrong. More »
4,704
By Owen ThomasComment by Pope John Peeps II: Tell that to to CNET News, the tech news site which has won awards for its reporting. Owen, tech reporting isn't... 5 Responses | Other threads
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scandal
John Edwards Affair Hits Big Time
John Edwards' philandering has gone federal. It might soon hit the courts. And to think just last summer the scandal was penny ante: stuck in the tabloid swamps, save for a disappointing ABC finale.
More »
21,222
By Ryan TateComment by BonMorte: Couldn't happen to a better guy. Trial lawyer that made his fortune on junk science and emotional appeals tries to... 40 Responses | Other threads
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from the mailbag
Save Your Newspaper: Don't Let Anyone Cancel
The chairman of the Associated Press says he's "mad as hell" at people who don't pay for news. Is that why his newspaper is reportedly impossible to cancel? More »
3,803
By Ryan TateComment by SarahHeartburn: They've learned from phone and internet companies. Try to cancel service on anything. I pay 60€ a year for a... 4 Responses | Other threads
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shut up, internet
The AP's War on the Web Reaches New Heights of Incompetence
The Associated Press wants to be the Internet's content sheriff—as soon as it figures out how it works. It demanded a radio station in Tennessee take down videos embedded from the AP's own YouTube channel. More »
3,988
By Owen ThomasComment by Danilo Campos: The death of the newspaper industry is richly deserved. 2 Responses | Other threads
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the chart
Debunking the AP's Aggregation Aggravation
Online aggregators are financial vampires sucking the lifeblood out of the news business! You know — evil digital upstarts like the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and the New York Times. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by UmaGaleo: But the chart supports the newspapers' central complaint: Papers' sites would still get traffic without search engines. But those search... 2 Responses | Other threads
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print is dead
Google CEO: Newspapers Need to Speed Things Up
What's the mysterious plague that's killing newspapers? According to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, it's not search engines, Craigslist, or Monster.com. It's those agonizingly slow-loading websites! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ifstone: Eric Schmidt, when he was at Sun, actually made websites slow today by f-ing up Java. Newspaper sites are weighed... 2 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
Associated Press: Shut Up, Internet
Dean Singleton, the chairman of the Associated Press, has unveiled a new initiative to "protect news content from misappropriation online." Translation: People, please stop Googling the news! More »
5,275
By Owen ThomasComment by Aaron Altman: So the AP will develop an API to prevent it from becoming UPI? 3 Responses | Other threads
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twitterati
The Twitterati Wear Shorts to a Cage Match
Things that the media's Twitter addicts are savoring: onion rings, Hulk Hogan, and weather warm enough for shorts. Michelle Malkin, Sarah Lacy, Xeni Jardin and others reveal their not-so-hidden desires: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Baroness: Oh, that Xeni Jardin. Part of me is interested by her- she's clearly lovely-looking, with a certain Annie Lennox aesthetic... 1 Responses | Other threads
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art
Obama Photographer Owes Art Gig To Shepard Fairey
Everyone, it seems, is reaping fortune or fame from a 2006 Associated Press picture of Barack Obama. Except the AP. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Almostbanned: So photographs of this guy are selling for $1200 each? He's the president. Most of the photos of him are... 6 Responses | Other threads
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twitterati
Guns, Profanity, Paranoia, and Fear on Twitter
Twitteronia is a scary place to be. A Googler got violent, an NBC TV host swore, and we frightened a top AP editor — while Michelle Malkin had a breakdown. Today's twittiest tweets: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by jasonelias: Please Michelle Malkin, give up on PC's and writing too... 1 Responses | Other threads
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headlines
Maryland Police Have Way Too Much Time On Hands
Sorry, but this "quality of life" policing trend has really gotten out of hand. Talk about an invasion of privacy! [CBS/AP]
4,475
By Ryan TateComment by belltolls: Crevasse? Crack? The next post will be connected to the economic abyss? I love word games. :) 4 Responses | Other threads
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oops
"Obama bin Laden" Error Hits Yahoo's Homepage
It's not just angry rightwingers who mix up "Obama" and "Osama." Yahoo News has joined CNN and the Associated Press in confusing the most powerful man in the world with his terrorist enemy. More »
34,868
By Owen ThomasComment by James Paylor: This sounds stupid but Bin Laden is dead, im not 100% sure but i have been watching alot of Alex... 1 Responses | Other threads
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copyfight
Shepard Fairey's Monday Is Worse Than Yours
Let's count Obama poster-boy Shepard Fairey's current skirmishes: he's preemptively sued the AP over its copyright claims; he pleaded not guilty to Boston graffiti charges; and hipster literary journal N+1 thinks he's a sell-out. More »
4,331
By Owen ThomasComment by Jasper Reardon: The insistence isn't that he be poor, only that there is a gap between his professed ethics and his actions.... 10 Responses | Other threads
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flackery
Kellogg, Subway Doing Backstroke Over Michael Phelps Bong Scandal
After the media assault comes the inevitable counterspin: Kellogg flacks are saying it did not drop benighted Olympian merman Michael Phelps over a photo of his lips pressed to a bong. Even though it did. More »
12,878
By Owen ThomasComment by Private Hangnail: Dudeflesh? I guess I have a new shameful favorite website. 4 Responses | Other threads
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art
AP Bullies Shepard Fairey Over Obama Poster
The Associated Press is alleging copyright infringement by street artist and graphic designer Shepard Fairey, who based his famous Barack Obama posters on an AP image. Why now? More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Kakapo: [www.art-for-a-change.com] He has good taste, but he's walked over the line repeatedly in the past. Making cash from t-shirts with... 7 Responses | Other threads
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weather
AP: British Can't Handle a Little Snow
Hitler bombed London for two months straight and the Brits stiff-upper-lipped themselves back to work, but a foot of snow has destroyed the morale of those once-proud people. More »
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By PareeneComment by Aaron Altman: Meanwhile, in America, we're getting weather forecasts from groundhogs. 11 Responses | Other threads
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corrections
AP Scandal: Top 10 Quotes List Quoted Krugman Quoting Others
The Associated Press's list of the Top 10 Quotes of 2008 featured two from Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman. But Krugman, it turns out, was not actually quotable enough to merit credit for either. More »
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By PareeneComment by econdave: Slow news day Alex? I'm an economist, and even I found this post incredibly boring. 2 Responses | Other threads
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associated press
Shrinking A.P. Calls CNN's Wire Service 'Abysmally Written'
The Associated Press is said to be planning staff cuts. Customers and readers are up in arms over its drift away from hard news. CNN, meanwhile, is fat and happy, and getting moreso by the day, investing in free food, holograms and international staff. So there was probably more than a little jealousy behind AP chief Tom Curley's disdainful swipe at the cable network's plan for a "CNN Wire" to compete with AP. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by phlox✔: A bit later in his speech Curley remarked: "Woo woo woo woo, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck..." 5 Responses | Other threads
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ap
AP: 10% Staff Cut In 2009?
We're hearing from a good source that Tom Curley, the head of the Associated Press, just held a town hall meeting to tell employees that the AP "will lose 10% of its staff next year." At a current headcount of over 4,000 employees, that would translate to at least 400 jobs lost, which could theoretically come through either layoffs or voluntary buyouts. Several cash-strapped newspapers—including the entire Tribune Co.—have recently announced plans to drop their AP subscriptions. Still, this would be a massive cut for what has always been one of the steadiest possible realms of journalism. AP employees with more details on this, email us. UPDATE: The AP has sent us a statement, which doesn't contain any numbers but acknowledges that cuts may be coming—though mostly through attrition, they hope: More » -
paris hilton
Paris Hilton's Breakup Confirmed By Excited AP
Despite her repeated public pronouncements of devotion, it will come as no huge shock to anyone anywhere that Paris Hilton just broke up with her boyfriend of nine months, musician Benji Madden. Even if you weren't up to speed on the latest developments — she was spotted with her Greek, shipping-heir ex and rumored desperately flirty with British princes — you have to figure, well, it's Paris Hilton, whose thirst for attention requires not only the intimate affection of various men but also constant press coverage of how those affections fluctuate. But her breakup is worth noting because the mainstream media seems to buying into her psychodrama like never before! More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Hey_mikey: Pardon the brain cooties these thoughts may cause - but perhaps her ongoing appeal is due to an, ahem, skill... 4 Responses | Other threads
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great moments in journalism
Best Jerry Yang resignation headline
The Associated Press does it again. "Yahoo's Yang decides he's no longer the right CEO." That's gotta be a fun job, coming up with the dryly sarcastic headlines. But you gotta be careful with those, because unwitting Web surfers who don't get the jokes-inside-jokes voice of the Internet might actually think you're reporting that Jerry Yang made the decision.
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By Paul BoutinComment by Spy from the Land of Rainpeople: At AP there's no need to think, just report. And the only feedback they are taking from their customers (readers)... more » | Other threads
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barack obama
Obama Breaks Puppy Promise!
Did you think That One would need to be sworn in before he started breaking promises, to children, in front of TV cameras? It was all right there in front of Steve Kroft's face on 60 Minutes tonight, but he just smiled, from the tank. The "emotive" Associated Press, though, noticed Obama changed his tune on the show: The president-elect promised his daughters in his victory speech that a new puppy was "coming with us to the White House." Yet all of a sudden on 60 Minutes it's coming only after Obama gets "settled" in the White House — "late winter, early spring." Watch hope get sucker-punched, after the jump. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by belltolls: The kids might as well learn this is a dog eat dog world. 8 Responses | Other threads
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photo ops
Your Obama/Bush Meeting Non-News News
Barack Obama just visited the White House! He's the next president, so he's required by tradition to meet the guy still squatting there through the end of the year. They pose for pictures, then disappear into the Oval Office for a private talk about Russia and Iran and the helicopter button and how the White House Coke machine is free and how you get to call the Redskins and call your own plays that they have to run every Sunday during the season. In other words, no news. The fun stuff doesn't get leaked out for months, sometimes years after both guys are safely out of the office. So how did everyone cover this important event? With babbling about symbolism and historic blah blah and the weather today. More »
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By PareeneComment by Richard Lawson: OK, also? Isn't it weird that Barack Obama probably used the White House toilet for the first time today? 8 Responses | Other threads
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associated press
Guns Drawn In AP Civil War
As recently as the mid-1980s, the newspapers that ostensibly own the Associated Press constituted 50 percent of its revenue. Over the past decade, with the explosion of syndicated news on wesbites and the proliferation of cable news channel, cashflows have come increasingly from new media customers, who tend to favor more soft news coverage on topics like entertainment and lifestyle. Smell like a recipe for disastrous internal strife? Funny, because that's exactly how it's turning out! It was one thing when the editor of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette likened AP's CEO to a Soviet apparatchik this past April. But now even the insane revolutionaries at Sam Zell's Tribune Company are staging a mutiny, moving to cancel the wire and saying AP is charging higher prices for less hard-news (think state and local) content: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by Weegee's bored: As an AP bureau chief I used to hang out with told me, "You can't spell 'cheap' without 'AP.' You... 1 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
AP Switches Tanks, Calls Palin a Racist
The new Associated Press guidelines on election coverage have been controversial, due mostly to the role of Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier, a probable Republican and admirer of John McCain. Fournier's new rules allow more of a reporter's voice in wire reports, less caging about "fairness", and generally ask that AP writers say it like it is. What that led to earlier this year annoyed liberals to no end. But at some point the race shifted in Obama's favor, and the AP followed suit. Last month they ran a devastating analysis piece on how John McCain lies about everything—that piece was instrumental in changing the McCain media narrative for good. But the selection of Sarah Palin has really sent the wire service right into the famous tank. This weekend they called Palin a big racist! More »
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By PareeneComment by Kid Twist: And there goes the AP's last shred of credibility. 13 Responses | Other threads
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bias
Subtle Media Sarcasm Watch
So the press was entirely shut out of Sarah Palin's magical journey through the UN today. They are making up for it by being quietly bitchy. The headlines: "Palin meets her first world leaders in New York." (You know, from first world countries like Afghanistan!) And here is the most sarcastic Associated Press lead sentence ever: More »
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By PareeneComment by Heneage: It's a good lead, but my favorite AP lead is still "Giant dog turd wreaks havoc at Swiss museum." ... 4 Responses | Other threads
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sarah palin emails
AP Rebuffs Hapless Secret Service On Palin
The Associated Press reports it was contacted by the Secret Service yesterday and "asked for copies of the leaked [Sarah Palin] e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply." Wait, why is the Secret Service asking AP for the emails? Do they not know how to use Google? The emails are here, guys, or you can see if wikileaks is back up or try the ones on the Huffington Post. Now please, leave the poor wretches at AP alone so they can resume encouraging you to Keep Up The Fight and crafting ridiculous accordion metaphors. [AP]
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By Ryan TateComment by Weegee's bored: Wait. The Secret Service can't do screen grabs? Wait until the reign of McCain, who doesn't know that a computer... 2 Responses | Other threads
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bias
Can We Stop With the 'AP In the Tank For McCain' Thing?
Ron Fournier, the new Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief? Definitely a tool, possibly a Republican. Some of the AP campaign coverage this season? Annoying at best, misleading at worst. But recently liberals (led by the usually serious Talking Points Memo) have all but declared the Associated Press an arm of the John McCain communications office. Well we can seek out and link to only the AP dispatches that fit our preferred spin too, guys! More »
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By PareeneComment by SidAndFinancy: Another headline from AP, when you go to Chuck Babington's piece: "Obama returns to cult comedy show" That "cult" program? Saturday... 4 Responses | Other threads
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journalismism
AP Watched Different Speech Last Night
The general reaction to last night's Obama speech has been, uh, effusive. Republicans were left speechless. Even GOP kneecapper Alex Castellanos seemed taken aback. The criticisms? Obama was maybe too focused on a Clintonian laundry list of issues, debased himself by attacking McCain, too meat-and-potatoes and not enough soaring rhetoric. So it only makes sense that the Associated Press headline is "Analysis: Obama spares details, keeps up attacks." Wait, what? That is the opposite of everyone else's interpretation! It gets better, in a "written hours before the speech was delivered" way! More »
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By PareeneComment by Dana Plato Memorial Fund: I have a question: does anyone think the speech matters that much anyway? I suspect most of middle america wasn't... 7 Responses | Other threads
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stephanie tubbs jones
Whoops, She's Not Dead
Here's the Washington Post accidentally reporting a Congresswoman's death four hours before it actually happened. Whoops! Guess they got burned by their "Democratic source." So did the Associated Press. The Post is the paper that so distrusted the National Enquirer's reporting it refused to even discuss John Edwards' affairs in its pages. The AP is the news service whose "trusted, authoritative voice" would set it apart in "a realm in which gossip and innuendo abound." Both publications are arrogant and stupid, but points to AP for writing a story about its arrogance and stupidity instead of trying to blame the Cleveland Plain Dealer like the Post did, The End. [AP]
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By Ryan TateComment by mintygreen: @jane street: Well, you will be soon. You're such a baby. more » | Other threads
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liberal media
Hated Bureau Chief No Longer Acting
This will please Politico. (And our commenters!) Ron Fournier, who got in trouble recently for being too friendly to Karl Rove a couple years ago and also for turning down a job offer a couple years ago is now the official Washington bureau chief for the Associated Press. He was just acting chief before. Now he'll maliciously add pro-McCain bias to AP stories for real. [FishbowlNY] -
journalismism
What Does 'Politico' Have Against Ron Fournier?
Political journalist Ron Fournier took his lumps recently for an ill-advisedly friendly email he sent to Bush brain Karl Rove back in 2004. Today, the Politico reveals that Fournier was this close to getting a "senior advisory role" in the McCain campaign, probably as some sort of fancy flack. He turned it down and went back to the AP instead, but now this has been reported and it's fueling the anti-AP fire. They're in bed with McCain! It's like there are these two gigantic beds in DC and everyone in the press is lying down on them with a candidate. Or it's like bullshit. This story, and the last one, are pointless except as part of some weird campaign to embarrass Ron Fournier. More »
3,228
By PareeneComment by TinFoil_Kid: When we talk about this tank is it like a Panzer, or like a dunk tank fundraiser at a carnival... more » | Other threads
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jesse washington
AP's Celebrity Bumbler Now Covering Ethnicity
You might remember Jesse Washington: He's the Associated Press editor who last year issued an ill-conceived ban on Paris Hilton news that, after much to-do, was lifted in less than two weeks. Within a year, the AP went entirely in the other direction, telling staffers "everything involving [celebrity] Britney [Spears] is a big deal," a reversal Washington awkwardly, and overenthusiastically, joined, again making waves with the announcement that the wire had already written Spears' obituary amid the singer's psychiatric breakdowns. He also rather rashly said in a video interview that "if you want to know that it really happened [in celebrity news], then you're going to have to go to AP... If we put it out, you can bet the house on it that it really happened." That hyperbolic claim was undermined a few months later, when a source claimed "the AP misquoted me" as saying actor Paul Newman had cancer. Having displayed such a nuanced touch, what might Washington's future be at the wire service? Why, covering the sensitive topic of race and ethnicity! In fact, Washington beat out 448 other applicants for the position of national writer on such matters, according to an AP staff memo from U.S. News Managing Editor Mike Oreskes:
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associated press
AP To Karl Rove: "Keep Up The Fight"
The Associated Press' Washington bueau chief, Ron Fournier, has been pissing various people off with his "accountability journalism" since he was installed in May. His bitter former boss at AP trashed his credentials to Politico, and influential website Talking Points Memo wondered if he wasn't responsible for the AP's "atrocious campaign coverage this year." Fournier has said his new approach, which involves taking more pointed stands within news articles, is driven by an in-depth examination of the facts, while critics say it is simply biased, advocacy journalism dressed up in new clothes. Fournier has had the backing of top AP brass in New York, but that may soon change, given the following recap of a 2004 email from Fournier to then-White House senior advisor Karl Rove, published this evening on TPM: More » -
associated press
Civil War At Associated Press
"The editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, for example, likened AP President and Chief Executive Tom Curley to the secretary-general of the Politburo at a convention in April... While the AP's 1,500 member newspapers still own the organization... they account for only 27% of AP revenue, down from more than 50% in the mid-1980s." [WSJ]
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By Ryan TateComment by Aaron Altman: @Mike_Jahn: Is this why folks leave Reuters alone? more » | Other threads
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media bloggers association
The Story of Robert Cox, World's Most Important Blogger
The email reprinted above is the founding document of the beloved Media Bloggers Association, that venerable organization that bloggers across the world recognize as the leading bullshit pretend front for one self-aggrandizing tool to get on TV all the time and pretend to represent citizen journalists. That they recognize now, anyway, because until the MBA inserted itself into the Associated Press blog dispute, no one had heard of the four-year-old organization. Though Robert Cox, the guy behind the MBA, was perhaps more well-known as the notorious right-wing crank and annoying tool behind Olbermann Watch, the blog that disagrees with everything MSNBC host Keith Olbermann says. Come read the email that started it all, and learn so much more about Robert Cox.
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By PareeneComment by MaelstromInTheMiddle: @Aaron Altman: YES! One strong current navigated by the weight differential between right and left disembodied feet, that were "not... more » | Other threads
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michael arrington
Did the New York Times Joker-ize Digg CEO Jay Adelson?
Saul Hansell quoted Digg CEO Jay Adelson defending the Associated Press (of which Hansell's publication the Times is a member). TechCrunch's Michael Arrington freaked out, natch. Adelson then attempted to further explain his complicated position, trying to be diplomatic. Yawn. As we've said before, and will say again, exercise your fair use rights under the law and shut up, because giving the AP attention just feeds its argument and therefore reinforces its position. Moving on: More »
associated press
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Fri Jul 17
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