Nedra Pickler, reporterette at the AP seems to be nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Obama campaign. A google search gives us the erroneous story she wrote where she attributed the Michelle Obama Whitey Rumor to Rush Limbaugh and conservative bloggers, when IN FACT it was left wing hacks that Matt mentioned earlier who floated the rumor all over the place and gave it wings. The AP has yet to correct or retract the story. But that is not all, she is all over the spinning for Obama:"Obama Adviser Denies Trade Remarks" by Nedra Pickler, 3/2/08
"Obama To Visit Iraq and Afghanistan Before Election"
and the list goes on and on....
The problem here with Nedra and the AP is that they are a monopoly, and they control the news. They have over 4000 newspapers subscribing in the US alone, not to mention networks, etc. What they write shapes the news, and the way it is covered. What they write shapes what you see and hear on Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. because it is sent out over so many different venues. However, while quantity and tirelessness is something they use to describe Ms. Pickler, accurate cannot be one thing she is. Just in this story about the Whitey tape, she advances an untruth that has been reported over and over again. Now try to tell me the libs and the AP are not using the Big Lie strategy of repeating and disseminating stuff for a big lie. Bob Beckel is using the thing to try to continue the canard that Limbaugh and conservatives started the whole damn thing, when in reality it was Beckel and his hack source Matt discussed earlier.
The AP needs to be watched more and more like a hawk. They have such massive power, power that is used not to report, but to shape and manipulate dataand news. Ms. Pickler is a perfect example of everything Tim Russert was not. AP should print a retraction or a correction, but they won't. Individual papers like the one Matt cited earlier today that took AP to task may do some things, but that is a drop in the bucket to the whole "universe" that sees the original erroneous stories. The AP is not a news organization, it is becoming a propaganda arm, a fax service, and that is the problem.
