What Story About the AP?

While I was away over the weekend, the AP issued a retraction on their story about the Wisconsin Republicans booing George W. Bush's well-wishes for Bill Clinton. It's about time.

Still, the official retraction comes a bit late, and on the heels of a troubling attempt to whitewash the record. Also, with no explanation as to how the error was made, or which reporter made the mistake (remember, there were five reporters listed on the story), AP leaves itself open to charges of political bias so deep that it affects reporting and management decisions. I'd like to think better of America's preeminent wire service--so why won't they just come out and give a 500 word narrative of what happened?

Or, if the AP isn't going to fess up by themselves, why are all the big media reporters silent? This morning Howie Kurtz has a piece on USA Today's decision to send Michael Moore to the Republican convention; Jim Romenesko lists two items--Kurtz's piece and a Baltimore Sun story about the scandal of the free massages for journalists at last week's convention (seriously, this is what Romenesko has up); Jack Shafer has nothing.

I'm not a professional media reporter, and maybe the AP's error and subsequent attempted cover-up isn't a blockbuster story like Jayson Blair, but is it beneath any mention?

Conservatives are (rightly) regarded as being paranoid whackos when it comes to worrying about bias in the mainstream media. But just because you're paranoid . . .