It will only take 2-3 minutes of your time but could really make a difference considering how many people read AP stories and how widely they are picked up by media outlets all over the country.
From MoveOn.org:
Last night's convention speech by Barack Obama got rave reviews from voters and pundits. Even top Republican strategists called it "a great speech" and "a terrific speech." And newspapers from Denver to Detroit had headlines like "Obama makes history, vows change" and "Obama rises to historic moment."
But millions of Americans whose local newspapers print Associated Press articles were told a different story. The headline they saw said, "Obama spares details, keeps up attacks." And the article that followed was equally slanted. "Instead of dwelling on specifics," the AP wrote, "he laced the crowning speech of his long campaign with the type of rhetorical flourishes that Republicans mock..."
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann immediately blasted the AP, saying their analysis "strikes me as having borne no resemblance to the speech that you and I just watched. None whatsoever...
a remarkable failure of that news organization."
Unfortunately, this is only the latest in a string of attacks on Democrats by the AP's political bureau. That bureau is now led by Ron Fournier, whose objectivity has come into question after revelations that he talked to the McCain campaign last year about becoming a senior political adviser, and that he sent an email to Karl Rove in 2004 telling him to "Keep up the fight."
Can you email the AP's Ron Fournier and CC his boss, Managing Editor Mike Oreskes? Tell them that the public's faith in the 160-year-old AP will be gone if Ron Fournier's bureau keeps writing slanted articles against Democrats.
Here are their emails:
Ron Fournier, AP Washington D.C. Bureau Chief, rfournier@ap.org
Michael Oreskes, AP Managing Editor, mOreskes@ap.org
After you email them, please help us track our progress by reporting your email here:
http://pol.moveon.org/call?cp_id=798&tg=508.533&id=13649-7646285-6Uxdj0x&t=1
Under Fournier's leadership, the AP has increasingly moved from straight news to commentary. Some stories written by Fournier about Democrats this election cycle include: "Biden pick shows lack of confidence," "Sen. Hillary Clinton an Artful Dodger," "Obama walks arrogance line," and "Clinton's Politics of Pity."
A recent report by media watchdog group Media Matters showed no equal attacks by Fournier on Republicans. In fact, he wrote only one negative piece about Republicans this presidential election cycle—and that was trashing Mitt Romney for beating John McCain in the Michigan primary! Enough is enough. THANK YOU! :hi: