Fox News moves to the front

By Michael J.W. Stickings

So who's getting Helen Thomas's front-and-center seat in the White House briefing room? The AP. (Which is bad, but it means not having to pick a specific network, newspaper, or magazine.) And who's getting AP's spot in the front row? A legitimate outlet like NPR, perhaps? Of course not. It's Fox News -- and this, as John Cole notes, is "a reward for their excellent achievements in propaganda."

Not that we should care -- after all, who really cares about the seating chart in the White House briefing room, other than the insiders themselves? -- but it is rather telling that at this time, with Fox News's agenda so utterly obvious, an agenda all about right-wing, pro-Republican sectarianism, not journalism, and with the whole Shirley Sherrod debacle still fresh in everyone's mind, that manufactured scandal pushed by Breitbart and promoted by Fox News, the insiders would effectively promote Fox News to the ranks of the supposed elite.

A Sign of the Apocalypse? Not really, given that Fox News is widely popular and hugely influential already, and given how pathetic the news media establishment is, and how predictable, but certainly a confirmation that the Apocalypse is at hand.

AP article debunks GOP attacks and assertions

By LindaBeth

I'm a little late noticing this, but it's quite nice to see this article by the AP addressing exaggerations and untrue assertions made by various speakers (including the candidates) at the GOP convention. Check it out for yourself here. It makes a nice accompaniment to the fine debunking done here at The Reaction already.

Boycott AP

By Libby Spencer

The legacy media is always handwringing over its imminent demise and just can't understand what happened to their lock on the information chain. Well, idiotic vendettas like this one is one reason. The AP is harassing the Drudge Retort, for alleged fair use infringement. I'm no lawyer, but looking at the posts they're complaining about, it doesn't look like a violation to me.

Jeff Jarvis explains the irony.

This complaint comes from an organization that leaches off original reporting and kills links and credit to the source of that journalism. Yes, it has a right to reproduce reporting from member news organizations. But as I point out here, the AP is hurting original reporting by not crediting and linking to the journalism at its source. We should be operating under an ethic of the link to original reporting; this is an ethic that the AP systematically violates.

What would be better for journalism would be for aggregators — Daylife (where I am a partner), Inform, Google News, Pro Publica — to link directly to original reporting without rewriting it through its mill. That is what is happening in Ohio, where newspapers are now sharing original stories. If the AP doesn’t watch out, that is what could happen everywhere.

Jeff goes on to note that it isn't difficult to link to the original source material that AP routinely fails to credit and furthermore, the original has better reporting.

I've often thought the legacy media is obviously run by people who don't understand the internets. The AP's lunacy here would seem to prove the point. Linking is good. It builds traffic and if we all get on board with the boycott, I think they'll soon figure out that they need a little more fairness in their 'fair use policy' or they'll find their overpriced product has become obsolete.

Update: It's growing already. Here's another thing the legacy media doesn't understand about Blogtopia (y!sctp). It's nimble and when pressed can organize action in mere hours. Already, the AP boycott has an official home, the UnAssociated Press.

Mosey on over to show your support and sign the petition and of course, (speaking for myself only) please join the boycott. Use alternative sources such as Agence France-Press, Reuters, McClatchy, or IPS for your blogger news and stop driving traffic to AP!

(Cross-posted at The Impolitic.)