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All Over The Country, Americans Are Wondering About The Name Of An Associated Press Reporter

Sep 10, 2011
By .
Irksome

Americans affected by reading yesterday's Associated Press story "Texas Wildfire Victims Wondering Where Perry Is" woke up today to bewilderment, as the story had been replaced with this squib, "BC-US–Perry-Wildfires-Story". The original story, which Americans all over the nation are reprinting in its entirety for the sake of posterity, read as follows:

Texas wildfire victims wondering where Perry is

BASTROP, Texas (AP) — Residents affected by a devastating Central Texas wildfire are growing impatient with state officials and questioning why Gov. Rick Perry hasn't spent more time there.

Some residents yelled at Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst when he visited the command center in Bastrop County Friday, asking where Perry is and why they haven't had any housing help.

Wildfires have destroyed nearly 1,400 homes about 25 miles from Austin.

Perry, running for the Republican nomination for president, interrupted his campaign and returned to Texas for two days before heading to California for a debate Wednesday. He is now fundraising in California.

Perry's office said "everything that needs to be done to respond to these fires is being done."

Dewhurst said the White House hasn't yet replied to a request for federal aid.

Yet this morning, the story read simply:

STORY REMOVED: BC-US–Perry-Wildfires story

BASTROP, Texas — The Associated Press has withdrawn its story about Texas residents questioning why Gov. Rick Perry has not spent more time in areas affected by wildfires. The single person who asked about Perry's involvement was not an area resident.

Also missing was the name of the Associated Press reporter who wrote the story.  People all over the nation wondered what happened to the name.  Was it deliberately removed? Or was it edited? Was the story written by Scott Lindlaw, or Tom Hayes?, mused puzzled Americans from coast to coast.

Update: In fact it appears that only one person, rather than "puzzled Americans American from coast to coast" is wondering who wrote the withdrawn Associated Press story. Also, we have learned that only one person woke up today in bewilderment that the story was missing.  That person later clarified that he woke up bewildered because a local woodpecker was making noise against a tree in the yard, rather than for reasons having to do with the missing Associated Press story.

However, Popehat stands by this article, because the one person cited above is in fact an American.  Moreover, we feel that his behavior is indicative of a growing trend among Americans who worry about the accuracy of stories from the Associated Press.

Finally, Popehat now acknowledges that much of the reporting for this story was originally performed by the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto.

Last 5 posts by Patrick Non-White

9 Comments
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8 Comments

  1. John Regan  •  Sep 10, 2011 @7:10 am

    The AP runs a story and Perry doesn't like it and one of the Perry staff calls and starts bullying AP people, threatening that they won't get "access" to the "surging" Perry as he deftly waltzes towards the presidency.

    You got a problem with that? And I keep thinking your woodpecker reference has some psycho-sexual significance, but then again it could just be about a bird.

  2. Patrick  •  Sep 10, 2011 @7:38 am

    Sometimes a bird is just a bird.

    As for your fantasy that the AP withdrew the story because Perry threatened to deny them access to his campaign, rather than because (as the AP concedes) it turned out to be invented hogshit, well that may have some psycho-sexual significance, but I'm really not in a position to say.

  3. John Regan  •  Sep 10, 2011 @7:53 am

    Okay, touche. But there's a slightly more serious side here.

    See, how does it "turn out" to be invented hogshit, assuming that it was? The AP runs lots of invented hogshit and never corrects any of it but this time they did. Why this time? I don't mean to pick on Perry either. Romney, Bachmann, Obama. It would all be the same. They all have vigilant PR people.

    Fair inferences are not "fantasy", are they? You have me worried.

  4. Patrick  •  Sep 10, 2011 @8:08 am

    See, how does it “turn out” to be invented hogshit, assuming that it was?

    Probably because a senior editor asked the line editor and the reporter to name the sources, which turned out to be one bitter guy wearing a CHANGE 2008 shirt at the Austin Whole Foods sushi bar?

    I'll take AP's word for it that the story was invented hogshit. The retraction is pretty remarkable. If your point is that AP wouldn't have retracted the story "Texas Wildfire victims wonder where John Regan is" because you aren't as powerful as Rick Perry, granted.

    But the AP wouldn't have written that story in the first place.

  5. John Regan  •  Sep 10, 2011 @8:34 am

    Yes, that was more or less my point, but I probably should have left woodpeckers out of it. And it doesn't sound quite so sagacious the way you put it, so maybe I shouldn't have said anything at all. But I liked your post very much and was desperate to make a contribution.

    I love when the AP retracts stuff. There's always a back-story in there somewhere.

  6. Rachel  •  Sep 10, 2011 @11:25 am

    For what it's worth, if I'd been at that meeting, I'd have asked that question.

    But it's kind of hard to get to Bastrop from where I am right now, because the highways are all closed. Because of the fire.

  7. Dan Weber  •  Sep 10, 2011 @1:52 pm

    "Oh, there are you are, Perry!"

  8. CarLitGuy  •  Sep 11, 2011 @6:08 pm

    Never fear, the fine folks in Bastrop moved a press conference on short notice, and Perry couldn't make it. Honestly, the local judge, together with the local firefighters, the local sheriff, and all the (slightly less local) cooperating sister agencies were running things a good bit more smoothly before US Forestry and FEMA showed up. If you saw today's conference, you saw how unprepared the FEMA spokesperson was, and got to watch our congresscritter make explanations for why they took so long to show up, as well as why the disaster declaration was so long in coming.

    Never fear though, turns out we didn't really need that DC-10 from California, after all…

    Turns out, CarLitGuy is luckier than many (most?) of his neighbors. He has a home, electrical power (grid energized last night at 9:12 pm), and water (boil before using) as of about 20 minutes ago.

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