A Spork in the Drawer

This Explains A Great Deal

The new head of the AP's Washington Bureau, Ron Fournier:

Karl Rove exchanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

Apparently, this is what Fournier calls "Accountability Journalism."

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More AP Fun

By way of Nielsen Hayden we find that the AP's "Terms of Use Content Agreement" contains this gem:

You shall not use the Content in any manner or context that will be in any way derogatory to the author, the publication from which the Content came, or any person connected with the creation of the Content or depicted in the Content. You agree not to use the Content in any manner or context that will be in any way derogatory to or damaging to the reputation of Publisher, its licensors, or any person connected with the creation of the Content or referenced in the Content.

If, say, AP reporter Nedra Pickler writes something that smacks of Republican propaganda - and our old friend Nedra is notorious for that - you can't use even a sentence to illustrate the point.

Granted, this only applies to those who have contracted with the AP. But even this becomes murky as it appears that anyone who quotes from an AP article has pretty much contracted with them and owes them at least $12.50.

Somebody should let the them know that Congress defines copyright and the AP does not have the power to change those laws.

Finally, kos dares the AP to sue him:

Lots of blogs are calling for boycotts of AP content. Not me. I'm going to keep using it. I will copy and paste as many words as I feel necessary to make my points and that I feel are within bounds of copyright law (and remember, I've got a JD and specialized in media law, so I know the rules pretty well). And I will keep doing so if I get an AP takedown notice (which I will make a big public show of ignoring). And then, either the AP -- an organization famous for taking its members work without credit -- will either back down and shut the hell up, or we'll have a judge resolve the easiest question of law in the history of copyright jurisprudence.

That's a court battle I'd pay to see.

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Limited Backpedaling

(Note: I'm deliberately breaking the boycott of the AP for reasons that should be obvious.)

A representative from the Associated Press is going to meet with the head of the Media Bloggers Association, Robert Cox, to try and hash out guidelines for quoting AP stories and to decide under what conditions they will sue bloggers.

So it doesn't appear to be much of a backpedal. But we'll see.

Of course, what the vast majority of bloggers have been doing all along falls under Fair Use so no new guidelines are needed but that doesn't seem to concern the AP at all.

(Note to the Associated Press: I have not quoted a single word from your story so no lawsuit is necessary.)

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No Longer Associated

Cernig noted the other day that the Associated Press has begun filing copyright suits against bloggers for engaging in what any reasonable person would consider to be fair use. Therefore, both to protect against frivolous lawsuits and to protest the AP's absurd policy bloggers are encouraged to to boycott them (if that doesn't work click here; you can also try the banner at the upper left of this page.).

As Cernig writes, "It's pretty clear AP is just using its status as a big dog to bark at poor bloggers it believes cannot afford litigation costs. Unfortunately, the onus of proof is on the blogger to prove 'fair use'."

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The Media Narrative Can't Be Killed

How's this for a lede:

Democratic leaders are taking an all-or-nothing approach on Iraq, a tack that leaves its members empty-handed for now but keeps the party in lockstep with demands by anti-war groups.

Those Dirty Hippies in anti-war groups! So demanding!

Apparently 58% of the American public are Dirty Hippies. (Other polls come up with similar numbers.)

Good job, Associated Press.

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Good Doggie!

Have a biscuit:

But that would mean withstanding the pressure [to pardon Libby] that will intensify if and when Mr. Libby goes to jail, which could happen in a matter of weeks, even as his appeals are pending. Speaking with reporters with him for the Group of Eight economic summit in Germany on Wednesday, Mr. Bush was not showing his hand. “It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to discuss the case until after the legal remedies have run its course,” he said. He cut off a reporter’s follow-up question on a possible pardon by moving on to another reporter, Terence Hunt of The Associated Press, who changed the subject to the new tensions with Russia. “Nice going, Terry,” Mr. Bush said.

There's a good boy!

From the same article:

Kenneth L. Adelman, the former director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and one of Mr. Libby’s prominent supporters, said he did not believe a pardon of Mr. Libby would have any bearing on Mr. Bush’s legacy.

“Clinton is very popular in the world, and he pardoned Marc Rich, of all things,” Mr. Adelman said. (Mr. Rich was a fugitive from charges of conspiracy, tax evasion, racketeering and violating United States sanctions by trading oil with Iran when Mr. Clinton pardoned him.)

Uhhh...Marc Rich ≠ Scooter, Kenny. (Then again, Adelman was the guy who said the Iraq War would be a "cakewalk" so his judgment might not be the best.)

Fun Fact! Irving Libby used to be Rich's lawyer:

Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff testified Thursday he believes prosecutors of billionaire financier Marc Rich "misconstrued the facts and the law" when they went after Rich on tax evasion charges.

The testimony from Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who represented Rich dating back to 1985 but stopped working for him in the spring of 2000, came during a contentious, hours-long House committee hearing into former President Bill Clinton's eleventh-hour pardons.

It would have been nice - and relevant - for the NYT to have mentioned that bit of irony.

[Via FAIR.]

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AP

The Associated Press today reports on a new video allegedly showing the so-called Loch Ness Monster.

This jumped out at me:

More recently, there have been more than 4,000 purported Nessie sightings since she was first caught on camera by a surgeon on vacation in the 1930s.

This refers to the infamous "Surgeon's Photo" taken in 1934:

It took 0.30 seconds for me to find a plethora of web pages showing this picture to be a hoax.

Even George W. Bush claims to know how to use The Google.

What does it say that AP reporters aren't as bright as George?

(And as for the video, I haven't seen it. Given all the research done in that enclosed if very deep body of water I very much doubt that any "monster" exists.)

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Headline

Time Mag:

Bush Ready to Veto Democrat Iraq Bill

AP version of the same story:

Bush ready to veto Iraq funding bill

So, did the AP correct its headline after originally sending it out or did Time change it to prove their winger bona fides?

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To Hell With The Associated Press

Headline:

Clinton says her sometimes Southern twahng thahng is a virtue

Put me somewhere and I'll start talking in the local accent within 5 minutes.

2 if I'm drinking.

This is Dowd-worthy nonsense.

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Mitt

Atrios:

Romney's going to find out that it's not important whether you're a "person of faith." What's important is that you're a person of the right faith. It's time to be honest about that. People believe different stuff, that stuff is important to some people, your identification with a particular religious tribe says something about your beliefs. I wish people didn't think that such beliefs were especially important characteristics of candidates, but the fact is they do. I wish our political and opinion leaders (and religious ones, too) were trying to convince people that such things shouldn't be important, but mostly they've been doing the opposite.

Shakes:

Look, I have no—none, zero, nil, zilch, nada, nought—love for Mitt Romney. If he were the last candidate on earth and I the last voter, I'd write in myself sooner than vote for him. But this kind of juvenile, he's-got-cooties, smear-by-association faux-journalism has to stop. It's pathetic; it lowers the public discourse; it insults us all. And it reinforces the privilege of one specific faith. The message, yet again, is that it's not just enough to be religious; you've got to be religious in a certain way—which is to say that you've got to preach that you're from an accepted Christian denomination, and practice intolerance of gays, uppity women, and people with "weirdo religions" (i.e. not privileged) or no religion at all. (See: Bush, George W.) That every last person reading this post will know precisely what I'm talking about (failing willful ignorance) is evidence of that very privilege.

I couldn't agree more. Would that our "news" media abandon its "narratives" and actually, y'know, report.

(Here's the ridiculous Associated Press story that set this off.)

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First CNN...

...and now the Associated Press:

(Click to enlarge.)

More at the link.

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[bangs head on desk]

To blatantly steal a post from Atrios, they truly are wankers:

AP Asks: Why So Many Upset by Iraq Death Toll?

I can't imagine why, oh Lords of the Associated Press.

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