Sarah Palin Post: AP Orders Staff "Stop Using the Phrase 'Ground Zero Mosque"'

In an unusual move, the Associated Press has publicly released an advisory memo to its reporters on how to cover of the Ground Zero mosque story - and the first rule is that journalists must immediately stop calling it the "Ground Zero mosque" story.

"We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘Ground zero mosque' or ‘mosque at ground zero' on all platforms," reads the advisory, which was issued by the AP's Standards Center.

Instead of the "Ground Zero mosque," AP recommends that reporters use the terms "mosque 2 blocks from WTC site," "Muslim (or Islamic) center near WTC site," "mosque near ground zero," or "mosque near WTC site." […]

Also included in the advisory is a "Fact Check" to provide "additional background" for reporters.

"A New York imam and his proposed mosque near ground zero are being demonized by political candidates - mostly Republicans - despite the fact that Islam is already very much a part of the World Trade Center neighborhood," reads the first paragraph of the Fact Check. "And that Muslims pray inside the Pentagon, too, less than 80 feet from where terrorists attacked. And that the imam who's being branded an extremist has been valued by both Republican and Democratic administrations as a moderate face of the faith."

One of the "facts" that the AP feels the need to "clarify" is that Ground Zero mosque organizer Feisal Abdul Rauf is a moderate Muslim.  […]

The advisory also "fact checks" pure opinion statements made by conservatives, like former House Speaker Newt Gringrich's assertion that "America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization." […]

AP is arguable the most influential news organization in the country, and many media outlets adhere to its guidelines in their reporting.

The AP Staff E-Mails:

agoldman@ap.org, akennedy@ap.org, amiga@ap.org, asanner@ap.org, ataxin@ap.org, awestfeldt@ap.org, bdobbin@ap.org, bdraper@ap.org, bfouhy@ap.org, blewis@ap.org, cbabington@ap.org, cbarry@ap.org, clong@ap.org, crugaber@ap.org, cwoodward@ap.org, dbauder@ap.org, ddaniel@ap.org, despo@ap.org, dgram@ap.org, dhastings@ap.org 

dkdaniel@ap.org, dnephin@ap.org, esimon@ap.org, evandore@ap.org, fdemilio@ap.org, fklug@ap.org, gjohnson@ap.org, gkatz@ap.org, gmulvihill@ap.org, gwong@ap.org, hjkorea@ap.org, javersa@ap.org, jbarbassa@ap.org, jbilleaud@ap.org, jhdavis@ap.org, jheintz@ap.org, jholland@ap.org, jkuhnhenn@ap.org

gdjohnson@ap.org, jsong@ap.org, kdaigle@ap.org, kgannon@ap.org, kritter@ap.org, lbaldor@ap.org, ldeutsch@ap.org, lshepherd@ap.org, lsidoti@ap.org, mapuzzo@ap.org, mbaker@ap.org, mcrutsinger@ap.org, mdale@ap.org, mgordon@ap.org, mlee@ap.org, mniesse@ap.org, mrobinson@ap.org, mvolz@ap.org, npickler@ap.org, ntoosi@ap.org

orodriguez@ap.org, pames@ap.org, pelliott@ap.org, pgorndi@ap.org, phess@ap.org, pjrlinek@ap.org, ppylas@ap.org, psvensson@ap.org, pyost@ap.org, razalivar@ap.org, rburns@ap.org, rfoley@ap.org, rfournier@ap.org, rnakashima@ap.org, rpyle@ap.org, sbauer@ap.org, sgraham@ap.org, squinn@ap.org, stheimer@ap.org, tcone@ap.org

tparadis@ap.org, traum@ap.org, tross@ap.org, ttompson@ap.org, wmccall@ap.org, zkaram@ap.org

Source:

AP Orders Staff: "Stop Using the Phrase 'Ground Zero Mosque'"

Sarah Palin: The AP Bias & Suspicious Coverage Leaves Dems Unnamed In Scandals

(A Tweet By The Governor) One of the many ways in which the Associated Press lends its support to Democrats and leftists in its political reporting is often evident in its stories about political scandals. The most common assist the AP gives to Democrats is to somehow forget to mention that a politician in the news because of criminal activity or other scandals is a Democrat. Yet when any pol in the news for scandal is a Republican, his party affiliation often leads the story, if it isn’t in the headline, even. […]

The writer is AP’s Colleen Long:

The first of Long’s stories concerns Hank Morris, a former advisor to former N.Y. State Comptroller Alan Hevesi — a scandalous figure in his own right. Morris is a long-time Democrat operative who faces 123 charges, “including enterprise corruption, securities fraud, grand larceny, bribery and money laundering, according to an indictment.” The feds are also charging him.

Here is how Long’s AP article describe Morris in its second paragraph:

Hank Morris, a once-adviser to former state comptroller Alan Hevesi, has been accused of taking kickbacks and other payments to steer billions of dollars in pension fund investments to favored companies in a “pay-to-play” scheme. [...]

The second story details the travails of one John Haggerty, a Republican operative accused of stealing one million dollars of state funds. Haggerty apparently conceived some scheme to “dupe” Mayor Michael Bloomberg into diverting funds to the state Independence Party, cash that eventually ended up in Haggerty’s pockets.


Here is Long’s very first paragraph:  Republican operative in NY accused of stealing $1M.

A Republican operative was indicted Monday on charges he exploited his political reputation to swindle $1.1 million from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, claiming he would use funds to help guard against election fraud but instead buying a house, prosecutors said. […]

So, it’s amnesia when a Democrat involved in a scandal, but if it happens to be a troubled Republican, why the AP makes darn sure that readers are aware that he is a member of the GOP. This is what we call the “Name that Party” game. Take a story about any pol in which party affiliation is missing and you can be sure that the criminal pol is a Democrat.

The Associated Press covers for Democrats quite well, indeed.

Source:

AP Bias: ‘Name That Party’ Blasts Repubs, Leaves Dems Unnamed in Stories By Warner Todd Huston of Big Journalism

Sarah Palin: As Expected The AP & A Number Of Media Outlets Are Erroneous

As you probably have heard, the AP snagged a copy of my memoir, Going Rogue, before its Tuesday release. And as is expected, the AP and a number of subsequent media outlets are erroneously reporting the contents of the book. Keep your powder dry, read the book, and enjoy it! Lots of great stories about my family, Alaska, and the incredible honor it was to run alongside Senator John McCain. 

We can't wait to hit the road and meet so many on the book tour! See you in Michigan first... 

- Sarah Palin

John Ziegler: AP’s Synopsis Of Sarah Palin’s Book Is A Joke

John Ziegler wrote a nice response to the joke of an organization The Associated Press:

I have signed a nondisclosure agreement with Harper Collins regarding Sarah Palin’s new book so until it comes out I am limited to discussing only what is currently in the public domain. However, I simply must respond to theAssociated Press “report” on Going Rogue.

Even grading on the “Palin Scale” of media bias, the AP’s synopsis is a joke.

Based on how the AP sees the book, you would think that the most significant disclosure is that Palin had to pay back the McCain campaign for part of her vetting because they lost, followed closely by the fact that she felt “badgered” by Katie Couric and didn’t get her way on election night.

In short, the book that the AP supposedly read sounds like it is full of self-serving whining and almost totally lacking in substance. That is not a remotely accurate evaluation of Going Rogue.

First of all, there are far more interesting and important revelations in the book (I have noticed in my own experience with my film “Media Malpractice” that one of the most insidious forms of media bias against conservative projects is to paint them as boring) that the AP has for some reason chosen to totally ignore.

Second of all, Palin’s analysis of what really happened with the now infamous (and totally misunderstood) Couric and Gibson interviews could not be LESS whiny — it is instead full of fact-filled writing that finally provides the full story of what really happened in the way that only a book can do (my documentary, which I am told Palin handed to her collaborator and said “here, this is what happened” could only provide a foundation of understanding that is magnified in much greater detail in Going Rogue).

My greatest regret (and I have many) in the course of making and promoting my documentary of the news coverage of the 2008 election is that I completely underestimated how impossible it is for a conservative (especially one as hated by the news media as Sarah Palin) to correct the historical record about media coverage because it is so easy for the very same media to portray you as whining.

I was naïve. I thought that telling the real truth of what actually happened would be seen as intrinsically valuable and eminently appropriate. Governor Palin instinctively knew different, telling me several times before during and after my interview with her that she was wary of being wrongly perceived in that way, and knew that she would have to thread a very small needle. I wish I had done a better job of combating that totally incorrect perception and perhaps that is why I am so sensitive to the subject when it appears the AP is not so subtly laying the groundwork for a resurrection of that bogus charge.

The bottom line is that the AP is either purposefully or out of their own profound unconscious bias, badly missing the most important points of Sarah Palin’s book. Considering the role the mainstream media played in creating the need for her to write this book in the first place, that should not be a big surprise.

If you are interested in this most amazing of all modern political stories, I urge you to read the book for yourself and not let those who want Palin destroyed to continue to dictate your perceptions of her. Her book may be the only way for you to know the real Sarah Palin. Don’t let the AP read it for you.

In 2008, John Ziegler wrote, directed and produced the documentary “Blocking the Path to 9/11″ and created www.HowObamaGotElected.com as a precursor to his next film, “Media Malpractice… How Obama Got Elected,” which came out in early 2009 and screened in over 20 theaters. A trailer video for that documentary has been viewed by at least 2.3 million people on You Tube.