Mark Crispin Miller: AP Ignores Two Major Siegelman Stories

[Hissyspit]

From Mark Crispin Miller, via e-mail:

Siegelman and the Alabama press

Tommy Stevenson, of the Tuscaloosa News, was surprised to read in the Huntsville Times yesterday that Don Siegelman has been keeping a low profile in his home state, denying interview requests from Alabama journalists.

No wonder Stevenson was surprised because last week he ran a major story on Siegelman, including video of the interview. In fact, Stevenson was the first Alabama print journalist to interview Siegelman since the former governor's release from federal prison pending appeal.

Guess that news hasn't made it to Huntsville.

But here's what is interesting. Stevenson, writing in his Time is Spherical, Not Linear blog, says the Associated Press did not pick up his story.

I've taken a journalism class or two in my time, and this one is hard to figure. The state's former governor gives his first major in-state interview since his release from prison and the AP's Montgomery bureau doesn't pick it up?

Stevenson checked with AP about why his original story was not picked up and also about why the wire service did not cover Tuesday night's event in Huntsville, featuring Harper's magazine's Scott Horton, plus an appearance by Siegelman, Jill Simpson, and other key figures in the Siegelman case. (Heck even "Bulldog" Eddie Curran was there.) AP's explanation? Well, they didn't really give Stevenson one--at least so far.

Here is what Stevenson has to say about that:

This is curious: both stories are sympathetic to Siegelman, yet they don't run the first one and then don't mention the second because, well, I guess as they say on South Park, "Nothing to see here, move along."

Stevenson notes that he has more coming on the Siegelman story in the next few days. Will AP pay attention?

NOTE:

Thom announced at the end of this show today that he's going to interview Don Siegelman next Tuesday (April 29) . The show is three hours long, and I don't know which hour will carry the interview. Perhaps you can find out, Pam. I try to listen to the whole show anyway. Thom's really a fabulous, brilliant, progressive talk show host. www.thomhartmann.com (There may be a list of the segments posted that day on Thom's website.)

[EFerrari]

1. K&R

[a kennedy]

2. kick

[Mister Ed]

3. K & 5th rec. So the print media in AL blacks this out like that TV station blacked out 60 Minutes?

:grr:

[Polemicist]

8. I think the Tuscaloosa paper is the only paper....

That had any balanced coverage of this sad stain on Alabama politics. All the other big city papers in Alabama were actively a part of the witch hunt and have never run any stories favorable to former Governor Siegelman regarding these trumped up charges.

Or at least that's what my sometimes faulty memory tells me from a prior reading of Scott Horton's archives on the Siegelman saga at Harpers. All the other Bama papers were in on the GOP fix and will never cover anything but the Bush/Rove line on this political prosecution.

[Hissyspit]

9. That's accurate. Your memory serves you well.

[L. Coyote]

4. I don't expect news outlets to create stories about news outlets.

I suppose Horton deserves coverage though. And, 60 Minutes was reported.

Here is what I see as the missing focus, the illegal campaign financing, the election theft, and the decision tree to prosecute.

Frankly, journalists should stay away from becoming the news, or making news of making news. That just obfuscates the real story.

[Hissyspit]

7. AP picks up stories and repackages them for the wire services.

There was no reason for them not to pick up the interview.

[annabanana]

10. they pick up some stories.. not others

Who's on the board of AP these days?

[Polemicist]

12. Rupert Murdock was just appointed to the AP board...

Part of the overall destruction of journalism he has long sponsored.

[L. Coyote]

13. And guys like Dan Qualye own papers, media outlets. To run for office, do we need to own media?

Like in the old days. NOT any more!!!

[bleever]

5. R&K.

Cuz that's the order I did it in.

The magma is pushing up, and all the earthmovers in the world won't stop it.

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

6. I guess we do not, or any Dem leader does not need any more proof than

the following statement that the media is not our friend, or fair, or balanced. What else hasn't the Montgomery AP reported, and as it gets closer to the election, what else will the Montgomery AP decide not to report?

"The state's former governor gives his first major in-state interview since his release from prison and the AP's Montgomery bureau doesn't pick it up?"

[Echo In Light]

11. K&R

[Hissyspit]

14. kick n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. The Huntsville Times did run this story last Wed.

About Horton's appearance in Huntsville. (At least, it's online):

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1208942127161530.xml&coll=1