Salon has an interesting piece in their War Room coverage about why the Downing Street memo hasn’t gotten as much coverage as it should: according to Salon, several newspapers are blaming the Associated Press.
Why? Because AP didn’t run a wire story about the memo. Apparently USA Today waited a month to report, while the Minneapolis Star-Tribune waited a week and then assigned a local reporter to story (good for them!). I’m baffled by why USA Today, which surely had resources to cover the story, waited an entire week??
AP’s excuse? Writing a story was hard work and just not a priority.
The Associated Press, the world’s largest newsgathering organization, essentially didn’t cover the document in its reports until last weekend in a story mostly about John Bolton, Bush’s nominee to become U.N. ambassador. The document then was reported on in an AP story stemming from last week’s news conference involving Blair and Bush.”
“The original story broke on a Sunday, so it was initially difficult to match without access to government officials and documents,” said Nick Tatro, the AP’s deputy international editor. Then, the AP editors who repeatedly considered doing a story, he said, didn’t necessarily see the document as a clearcut case of proving the manipulation of intelligence. Also, the demands of other important stories kept diverting them, he said. “Our people felt it wasn’t a completely clear comment from the raw material,” Tatro said. “It was our intent to do a story, and it just didn’t happen.”
In response to a request for comment, Deborah Seward, AP’s international editor, conceded to Salon in an email, “Yes, there is no question AP dropped the ball in not picking up on the Downing Street memo sooner.”
Ah, nothing like our press, hard at work. However, at least AP admits its mistake.