By Bradley J. Fikes
Fed up with ignorant, error-filled stories in the MSM? A new project has been launched to help with a big part of that problem, the Associated Press.
AP is by far the dominant news service for newspapers and other journalism outfits across the country. However, its articles are frequently marred by sloppy errors, poor logic and blatant misinformation. This is a disservice to readers, who get inaccurate information, and to the newspapers, that pay good money for what are supposed to be accurate stories.
That’s the reason for AP Watch, a project to monitor and correct major AP errors, especially those that negate the premise of the story. This is a non-ideological project. AP Watch doesn’t care where the chips fall, as long as the facts are correctly presented.
Click here to read more about the blog, and how you can get involved.
(DISCLAIMER: As with everything I post here, this is my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the views of my employer, the North County Times).
Thanks, Doc! I’ll check it out.
Yeah, I’ve always held a fair amount of contempt for the editors and reports of the AP – particularly annoying is when there’s no byline to a story.
I don’t know. I’m relative young at 47. Was the average reporter back in the 40’s, 50’s, and even ’60’s anywhere near as point blank incompetent as the boys and girls running the press today?
I mean… (*PAUSING*)… fundamental questions which occur to me as I’m reading articles just kinda hang there as often as not, and I wind up asking myself, “do they actually PAY the person who edited this piece of tripe?”
(Hmm… just opened up AP Watch in another window… LOOKS GOOD! I’m gonna bookmark it, track it for awhile, and if it pans out as achieving its mission I’ll add it to my blog role.)
BILL
That is Bradley, my co-blogger’s project. He is a newspaper reporter and knows what he is talking about.
“Was the average reporter back in the 40’s, 50’s, and even ’60’s anywhere near as point blank incompetent as the boys and girls running the press today?”
Could be, or it could be that the incompetence is more easily discovered and talked about with the Internet’s help. Or both could be true — which I suspect is the case. Reporting has been overtaken by stenography and pre-ordained conclusions.
I’m not done with the AP green jobs debacle. I’m going to try to get an official response from them, and discuss this with other media groups.
Any suggestions for target stories from AP are welcomed.
O.K., Brad, you got it! I’ll keep you in mind for when I come across blatant AP incompetence.
And, yeah… I’m with you… there are plenty of site that focus on “bias;” I get where you’re coming from – you’re focused on good old fashioned journalistic standards of competence.
Best of luck!
BILL BARKER