The Associated Press, which insists that internet journalists must not quote it, has two good reasons not to be quoted today, made obvious by enterprising internet journalists. Professor Barry Rubin writes that AP has falsely reported Israel is building new settlements.The AP falsely reported that Israel is building a new settlement on the West Bank and linked this to a wrong-headed spin on an important national leader visiting Israel.
No, not Obama! He's still just a candidate. I'm referring to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Curiously, Brown's visit was highlighted for its criticism of Israel by the AP though his trip was seen in Israel as incredibly supportive. Indeed, Brown made the most pro-Israel statements of any British leader since Margaret Thatcher left the scene. This was especially significant since Brown is the Labour party leader and given the incredibly hostile anti-Israel sentiment in the British media and academia.
One wouldn't know this from the AP story, "British leader presses Israel to halt settlements," posted July 21, by Mohammed Daraghmeh. Its lead was Brown demanding "Israel cease settlement construction." Ironically, another AP story a few days later, in criticizing a reported Israeli decision to build a new West Bank settlement, pointed out (only in the context of criticizing Israel of course) that Israel had not started a new settlement in years.
In fact, the report was false. In fact, Israel had authorized the building of 22 houses on a settlement created more than 25 years ago.
There's more. Read the whole thing here. Meanwhile, blogger Bookworm has fisked the AP's coverage of the Obama campaign's response to Jerome Corsi's new number one bestseller. Daringly, she reprints the actual words AP used, in order to critique them. Let AP try to win a lawsuit for copyright infringement in order to prevent people from critiquing its work. Hat tip: Ethel C. Fenig
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