I've lost alot of respect for AP over the last few months in watching their coverage of the torture issue. Now that I'm looking I've started noticing selective storytelling by AP in alot of other places.

You lay out a solid case in this diary of poor reporting by AP and perhaps of political bias as well. Your criticism of the powers that be in Harrisburg is also on target.

Kerry won Pennsylvania but Pennsylvania has sent a Republican to the Senate 14 straight times? That's not their only problem as I'm sure you know and have written about. Besides the senatorial shut-outs, what also grabs my attention is the pathetic performance in electing candidates to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The total vote was very close statewide for US Reps in Pennsylvania. Republicans received 2.56 million votes to 2.48 for Democrats. Votes were practically even statewide yet Republicans took 12 seats to Dems 7!

The Dems didn't even field candidates in 3 Pennsylvania House races.

Apparently the Pennsylvania Democratic Party has been functioning poorly for some time. If Casey is their choice I'd want to take an extra hard look at Pennacchio.

Good luck!

I want to know the name of Peter Jackson's Editor. That is who should be fired for letting some cheap-ass hack like Peter Jackson write this crap.

This is the worst form of censorship and a grave violation of basic journalistic standards. Peter Jackson has violated the public trust and the AP should be held accountable.

Voters decide primaries, not party bosses, not the AP. Peter Jackson needs to apologize immediately and there needs to be a retraction. Otherwise, well ask Rather, Jordan, and Gannon about the otherwise.

Clock is ticking...

Peter,

I saw your report published here
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-03042005-458660.html
and wanted to drop you a line.

In the article it states
 "It was always his goal to try to have a united front," said Penny Lee, Rendell's communication director. "We're not expecting anyone to file against Bobby" in the Senate primary, which is still 15 months away.

I want to bring to your attention another candidate that is going to run for the Dem nomination, that of Chuck Pennachio. If you are unaware, you can visit his website at chuck2006.com, or just give them a call. I am sure they would like to talk to you. your readers might be awfully surprised and the Casey campaign embarrassed about this uncharacteristic omission.

Thanks,

I don't think the Governor has any special perogative to crown a winner in a primary does he? Rendell's reputation clearly exceeds his performance.

This is exactly the same problem we had in California and to a certain extent, still do. The corrupt old guard gets gerrymandered seats and locks up the political process. At least in California we had a corrupt majority. It looks like you have a very determined corrupt minority that is damned determined to keep it that way.

A closed back room deal process hurts everybody. One of the most profound roles the blogosphere can play from here on out is transparency. The more open the process is, the more progressive Democrats will benefit.

This actually worked for me.  AP coverage of the Washington Governor's election led every article with the same one paragraph summary.  That summary stated that Republican Dino Rossi won the Governor's election but that the initial automatic recount reduced the margin.  Democrat Christine Gregoire led the hand recount.

I wrote that no one had won the elction yet.  Rossi led in the original count and Gregoire now led in the recount.  Although the AP never pulled its story, it did modify that lead paragraph that completely dominated and (yes) framed the issue.

I would suggest that the ap be contacted.  A re-write would start the part about other Democrats with a very simple statement.  Something along these lines.  

Two of Casey's three potential challengers have left the race but a third, Chuck Pennachio, is still in the race.

I plan to e-mail the AP to that effect.

Complaints to AP matter.

Regarding the AP filing:

    "Casey to seek Senate nomination; Hafer and Hoeffel out"
    By PETER JACKSON
    The Associated Press

(reachable here, for reference: http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-03042005-458660.html )

I would like to point out that Mr. Jackson was apparently in contact with the "Chuck Pennacchio for Senate 2006" campaign before the filing of this report.  During this interaction Mr. Jackson was made aware that the Chuck Pennacchio campaign had indeed already filed as a legitimate candidate with the FEC.

I would like to humbly suggest a correction to the story be made to reflect this apparent glaring omission of relevant information.

It has come to my attention that you and the AP seem to doubt the legitimacy of anyone competing against Bob Casey Jr. for the Democratic primary race for Senator in 2006.  In particular your
stubborn failure to acknowledge Dr. Pennacchio's candidacy is troubling.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today in their article about the race had this to say about Chuck:

"Hafer's decision removed a significant hurdle for Casey, but he is still not guaranteed smooth sailing to his party's nomination.

Chuck Pennacchio, a Philadelphia college professor, said yesterday that he would seek the nomination. And with more than a year to go before the filing deadline in the race, there is plenty of time for
other candidates to emerge, although Rendell and Rep. T.J. Rooney, the state party chairman, can be expected to try to quash any such effort. More liberal Democrats on social issues, including activists strongly in favor of abortion rights, pose the clearest potential source of intraparty opposition for Casey."

Here is the link to the article. http://post-gazette.com/pg/05064/466812.stm

We may be just the little people out here in reader land, but we do pay attention to what the AP writes, or in this case fails to write.

Sincerely,

Juls
Mars, PA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ARE you tired of those pesky people, those of "We the People" fame (or infamy), actually demanding ethical journalism?
Are YOU tired of these so-called "people" demanding ALL the facts on issues and events? (Like they could handle it)
Are you TIRED of "the people" actually believing they have a voice in the decision making process?

We here at Hacks R Us understand that as a VIIPM (Very Important Inner-Party member) you have agendas to implement.  We understand that you must be able to move fast, with minimum pushback. We understand that (some) facts just muddy the waters and make it that much harder to carry out your ALLIMPORTANT plans. But most of all, we totally and completely understand that YOU KNOW BEST.

That is why we strive to hire only the most cooperative "journalists"  We screen our prospective "reporters" for any signs of honesty and independence, and we do extensive psychological testing before hiring to insure that our writers are more interested in advancing your agenda, and their careers, than in actually reporting all the relevant facts for a given issue. Just listen to some of our satisfied clients referring to some of our current employees:

Ken Starr on Susan Schmidt (WP/HRU): "Sue was great!!. We just gave her the copy and she ran with it, no questions asked. We never could have kept the store open for all those years without her".

Cheney/Rumsfeld on Judith Miller (NYT/HRU): "Wow! We can't say enough good things about Judy. She was instrumental in lending credibility to all the bogus stories and outright lies we used to sell the unnecessary invasion of Iraq. That part about the mysterious guy with the baseball cap pointing at the ground was priceless!".

Unnamed administration official on Bob Novak (CNN/WP/HRU): "What can you say about Bob. When we went to him to help us expose an undercover CIA operative working on WMD issues after 911 we didn't actually  think he would do it. But Bob came through for us. He's really a star at HRU. The guy would sell his own mother if it served his masters. I mean that in a good way of course".

And our latest addition:

Ed Rendell on Peter Jackson (AP/HRU): "Peter Jackson and HRU really delivers. We actually got him to write a story that said our anointed pick for the 2006 US Senate race didn't have a primary challenger, even though this guy who was challenging him had a political history, had filed with the FEC, raised money and had even contacted the AP prior to the story being written. Good work!".

So whatever your goals are, from starting unnecessary wars to fixing elections, HRU is there to help. We promise to do our best to grease the skids and make your ALLIMPORTANT plans, whatever they are, come to fruition. Feel free to contact our sales force using the contact info below.

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HRU is currently a subsidiary of the US Corporate Umbrella Group, but expects to be integrated into the new Ministry of Truth soon to be created by the US Congress. Ed

MC

If Diogenes were alive today and looking for an honest man he'd have passed you right by.

Boss Tweed, however, would have welcomed you with a glad hand into Tammany Hall.

It's not really in question what you are-a political hack wearing in journalist's clothing who ignored the facts given to you and went with the sleazy political backroom  assumption that candidates for Senate are crowned rather than elected.

What's in question is whether that's what you will continue to be.

You owe the Pennachio campaign an public apology, and some decent coverage to make up for this deliberate misrepresentation of the primary field.

I'd list the facts, but you've made abundantly clear that's not what matters to you. Just know that we are on to you. That we will challenge you when you fail us by colluding with the powerful against the public interest.

Whoever is selected for the Democratic Party nomination against Senator Santorum, the people of Pennsylvania should be able to expect your help in making an informed choice from the candidates available to them.

In other words, do your job.

C'mon. Someone had to say it, you were all thinking it.

I just sent the following e-mail to Peter Jackson.  It occurs to me that it should also be sent to Peter Jackson's editor.  Deliberately distorting facts concerning an election is shameful.

Justina

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 10:16 PM
To: 'pjackson@ap.org'
Subject: Why did you lie about no other candidate contesting the Democratic PA Senate Primary?

You were informed that  Chuck Pennacchio <http://www.chuck2006.com>   was running in the Democratic primary against Bob Casey, Jr. and given particulars about Pennacchio's political background, yet you deliberately stated that no one was running against Casey in the primary.  Why did you do that?

One presumes that an AP reporter has had some training in factual reporting and journalistic ethics.  That seems to be a presumption that cannot be applied in your case.

What payback do you get for misinforming the public about the primary challenge to Casey's candidacy?

I hope it is worth the loss of your reputation as an honest journalist.

Justina
Makawao, HI 96768

Hi,
I'm wondering about a recent story you wrote in which Dem officials were quoted indicating there were no candidates opposing Bob Casey for the Senate nomination. Is Chuck Pennacchio not running, despite his presence on the internet?

I'm a member of DAUK here in London, and we are interested in supporting Democratic candidates even at this early date. The answer to this question is vital to our efforts here to inform our voters--in fact, we're meeting this evening to discuss 2006 US elections. If mainstream journalists such as you are misleading readers, we'd like to set the record straight.

But how do you think you got promoted to the front page of MyDD? Why do you think your site was mentioned on Eschaton, who is only the most prominant blogger in PA? I think you have working hard to achieve that, and hat's off to you.

I never said, nor do I think you are treating bloggers like an ATM. Instead you are appealing to influentials and saying the right code words.

It is terrible you are being ignored and I wish you luck in getting more attention and a profile for Chuck in the primaries.