Fournier Watch: Your Letters to APME Members Are Working
By Al Giordano
On the one hand, AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier's story today, "Blacks, whites, show prejudices along racial divide" surely indicates his sneering desire to show that he'll play the race card as long as he damn well pleases and he's not going to be deterred from that by some lowly readers and Field Hands. Eight days after his last weekend's filing, "Racial views steer some white dems away from Obama," he's letting us know that our puny letter writing campaign isn't going to keep him from being a Ronny-One-Note for the rest of the campaign.
On the other hand, there are these facts:
Did you see which prominent AP Washington Bureau Chief did not get to author or steer the AP's coverage or analysis of the Obama-McCain debate on Friday?
And did you notice, kind Field Hands, that when he forayed into greater Detroit to write his latest attempt at racial arson, he had to be chaperoned by an African-American AP writer, Errin Haines?
You can be sure that his superiors are feeling the heat and edited the story to eliminate the incendiary and broad-brush conclusions that spun Fournier's previous pyromania into a full-blown media virus.
And so while the "big kids" of the national political reporting class got to cover McCain's return to Washington, his subsequent blink and flight to Mississippi, the first presidential debate in Oxford, and the tense bailout negotiations in DC, Fournier was sent to what beltway reporters consider akin to a place across the water from Governor Palin (Siberia!): Fournier faced the punishment of having to leave the comfort of his cubicle and walk urban American neighborhoods, to beat his scandalous theories like a dead horse. In the end, today's Fournier article was milquetoast by comparison to his last, and ain't gonna generate the attention his last one did, or come close to going viral.
Your letters to governing board members of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association (APME) have sparked a wide variety of response (and in some cases, non-response) but they definitely hit the target.
Let me share with you two responses from APME board members that show the wide range of responses received from Field Hands.
The first, from David Bailey in Arkansas:
Dear Sir,
Thanks for your message. At the annual convention of APME earlier this month, I raised concerns about AP stories originating in the Washington bureau. Those concerns were echoed by other editors, although many of us feel that the problems are rooted in reporting standards and practices rather than in political partisanship; in fact, I have heard even more complaints about AP political coverage from McCain supporters than from Obama supporters.
Although mere membership on the APME board gives me no more clout with AP news staffers than any other editor has, several of Ron Fournier's superiors have asked me to contact him directly to discuss editors' concerns. When I do so, I may find it helpful to mention your comments -- without identifying you by name -- and I would like your permission to do so. If you agree further, I would like to share your comments with Associated Press executives, either with or without attaching your name, whichever you prefer.
David Bailey
Managing Editor
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
I would categorize that as a straightforward, honest and ethical acceptance by Bailey of his responsibilities as APME board member, at once self-confident and self-reflective, the kind of qualities that behoove any journalist to have.
Yet, from the professional simulator (and careerist brown-noser) faction of the APME, there are still unsteady and insecure voices like that of Jack Lail, who is in such a defensive froth over the letters he got that he posted this ditty on his personal blog:
I'm getting first hand experience at a lobbying effort by progressives aimed at one of the Associated Press' top Washington journalists.
Long-time activist/journalist Al Giordano of "The Field" blog, among other projects, is taking the campaign against Ron Fournier, AP's Washington Bureau Chief to newsroom senior managers across the country with a campaign targeting the 27 members of the Associated Press Managing Editors association, or APME.
I know this because I was recently elected to the board of APME as an online representative.
Giordano's "Field" has local chapters of "Field Hands" in several states, including Tennessee, and members have been urged to contact APME board members in their areas.
He is urging them to write personalized emails or letters to APME board members and to make several points about Fournier's coverage, which they view as pro-John McCain. Fournier has been criticized for biased coverage by a number of blogs and political sites, including MoveOn.org. Whatever the merit of those claims, it's fair to say, Fournier's controversial.
Progressive organizations have been highlighting Fournier for awhile, including with an email campaigns to the wire service's management.
Focusing on APME -- which promotes journalism excellence, training and is a sounding board between newspapers and the wire service (see the full about us) -- is a new tactic just launched this week.
I received a handful of polite and impassioned emails today. I tried to give thoughtful responses (basically, Fournier seems to me to be a journalist of the highest professionalism and that the Saturday AP story on an AP-Yahoo poll on race and the election was good journalism, but I appreciate their concerns).
Based on what I have read on Giordano's site, I assume they will be posted online although they were intended as personal replies to the email writers.
The response I got from Giordano was bit gruffer (and returned in kind), but he's an old hand at the hurly-burly of street politics, first testifying before a state legislative committee as a teen and working for several years with radical Abbie Hoffman.
I suspect this effort will continue at some level beyond the election in early November.
I especially liked the last paragraph, about this not ending in November. Somewhere in that brain a clue has formed.
The difference between those two responses - the latter, scared and defensive, the former, proactive and responsive - gives us a pretty good sense of the struggle underway on the APME board. That such a struggle exists is exactly what the doctor ordered to keep the worst abuses by partisan and unethical ilk like Fournier in check.
The APME has to keep stepping forward as the Associated Press's only body of journalists and the authors of its Statement of Ethical Principles. If APME is not vigilant over AP's own adherence to them, and the negligence of AP senior editors over simulators like Fournier, who will be?
No doubt, Fournier will flail some more before the campaign is done, to show us how important he thinks he is (and to try and rescue his almost-boss John McCain's own sinking ship), and when he does, we'll be ready for him, keypads in hand, to click "send" to APME members and inform them of the true facts: again and again, for as many times as it takes.
And when Fournier thinks about distorting and overreaching again, he'll have to think twice about the assignment out into the hinterlands - and away from the centers of power where he envisions himself as a player - that will inevitably come the next time we have to alert his superiors of how their choice not to remove him altogether is embarrassing them.
Excellent job, Field Hands.
Email this page
Let's all take that last sentence as a rallying cry...
Submitted on September 28th, 2008 by kurt (not verified)Not just for this effort, but for making sure that the forces for change don't die down. I recently heard an interview with Robert Kuttner (on NPR, I think) talking about the transformational presidencies of FDR, and I think Kennedy / Johnson. His main point that I recall in this context was that transformational presidencies require well organized social movements to push them toward deep transformation, provide political cover and so on. I also happened to be reading Robert Reich's "Supercapitalism" and I'm utterly convinced that Obama's starting with the lobbyists is the right thi ng, and that we need to seriously do something to revive the idea of 'citizenship' in this country.
Oh, but back to the point. Of course it will continue after the election! This isn't about getting one person elected; it's about taking back our country and media, and focusing on the real issues facing us rather than fabricated media stories. The politics of distraction won't work... not this time.
Quote to get me through the week
Submitted on September 28th, 2008 by VIva Ernesto Cortez (not verified)Somewhere in that brain a clue has formed.
Thank you, Al. Damn right it ain't ending in November. They just don't get it. It's not like I've expected them to read "Rules for Radicals," but it still amazes me. They don't understand that, in McCain's pickled terms, the movement that has organized behind Obama has not reached the beginning of the end-- it has just now entered the end of the beginning.
Notice we're now "progressives"
Submitted on September 28th, 2008 by Nancy ChesterWonderful news. What I found fascinating was in Mr Lail's polite but defensive response where he repeatedly used the term "progressives", combined with the adjective "polite" to describe us. I personally have no objection to being called "left wing" or "liberal" but the words have been mis-used so badly since the Reagan years that they are no longer useful. That too is a victory.
another source of amusement: lail picking a fight
Submitted on September 28th, 2008 by kurt (not verified)I just read Jack's post and commented on it, as I was one of his correspondents. I have to share my amusement with his fear and ignorance about Alinsky. If he read his Alinsky's he'd know that he's doing us a favor by linking to the field and showing his consernation with the effort. I even thanked him for his help in spreading the word, because we can't do it alone!
Thank you Al and thank you Field Hands!
Submitted on September 28th, 2008 by Kathleen Harganfor the collaboration and our first taste of success ... and Al, for tutoring and guiding this exercise in "smart dissent" ... I am heartened, and also challenged by the admonition that it doesn't end with the election!
Radicals
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Nate (not verified)Oh, Al, so radical of you having us write letters asking that a major news network not publish specious, racially-tinged analyses in a bald-faced effort to assist John McCain from within the A.P. How strange that asking this is so radical.
But on the other hand, this clearly isn't 2000, or 2004. We're mobilized, organized, and I must say I'm pleased with the coverage in general compared to previous years. Can't wait until President Barack Obama is sworn in . . . then the real mobilization begins. Healthcare is going to be one helluva fight.
LMAO
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Anonymous Fieldhand (not verified)I googled Ronny-One-Note to see where that term had been used before, guess what? The only result was...
The Field: Al Giordano Reports the US Presidential Elections
I had to laugh hard at myself for that one. Of course, Al coins phrases, duh.
The end of the beginning
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Anonymous Fieldhand (not verified)Couldn't resist putting up a pic of Jack Lail. Thanks Jack for helping us in our endeavor. You are right, this will not end with the election. We want fair and accurate journalism. If you call that progressive, then I am proud to say I am progressive.
H/T to Viva Ernesto Cortez for the great phrase.
Emphasis on Facts
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Lisa BallardI thought that even Lail's more defensive response was interesting in that he didn't refute the truth of what was stated in the letters.
Bradley Effect is Dead
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Norm W. (not verified)Many of you may have caught this link over at dailykos, but here's a pre-pub copy of a Harvard post-doc putting a stake in the Bradley effect.
http://people.iq.harvard.edu/%7Edhopkins/wilder13.pdf
My favorite part
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Suzy ShureMy favorite part of Lail's post: " I assume they will be posted online although they were intended as personal replies to the email writers."
The old attempt to try to 'divide & conquer' - address them as individuals and hope they think they're alone. Not any more. Those emails remind me of some emails Al posted when he was in transition to this host of The Field. How angry some people get when a light is shining on their words - and those words are shared and made public. Wonder what Lail thinks he has to hide from being made public? Or could it be that individuals can now easily share & make public their voices - just the way journalists working with large organizations like AP could always do.
Yes We Can and Yes We Will.
My Grandmother's Rule...
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Lisa BallardMy grandmother, who was born in 1907 and was a kindergarten teacher all her life, used to tell me that I shouldn't write anything down that I wouldn't want to see published in the newspaper, (i.e. if you don't want to embarrass yourself, make sure you have your facts straight and be ready to take responsibility for what you write no matter who reads it).
The first time she told me that was when I was 9 years old and the kids in my fourth grade class were "passing notes" around the class while the teacher wasn't looking.
Still amazes me (as Suzy points out above) when people, whom I would have thought would already fully understand this concept (newspaper editors, maybe a former blog manager at a site we used to visit), seem quite baffled at the thought that their written words could be publicized?
OMG
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Allan BrauerThat picture of Jack Fail. Priceless. Look, Mom, I'm an important journalist!
Letter sent and Registrations in Atlanta
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Catherine CainI just sent my letter (that was marinating over the weekend) to Jon Broadbooks in Springfield, Illinois. I will let you know if I hear back from him.
I also just returned from a weekend of voter registration with my sister and a local volunteer Obama group in Atlanta. We had HUGE success with registering voters in 2 different apartment complexes as well as registering drivers stuck in the 2-3 hour gas lines. The city is rationed on gas right now due to the hurricane affecting supplies up to the city. It's crazy there and they don't expect it to return to normal for a week. But the registration was fun and I would love to know what the internals in Georgia are showing for Obama since the debate. I wouldn't be surprised to see it within 5% now. There is a soooo much enthusiasm in the African American community for Obama. I was a mini-celebrity at the airport with my Obama "flair". I spent some time talking to some MARTA (city train) workers and was introduced to the train conductor who happened to be the first guy hired at MARTA many, many years ago. When I got off the train he called me over to the front of the train and put his hand out of the engine room window to me on the platform and thanked me for the work we were doing. Holding up the commuters lol.
And there was the young guy driving thru the apartment complex area, who rolled down his window as we were trying to ask him if he was registered and yelled back (while on his cell phone) "Oh yeah, I'm registered! I already voted! My momma took me to get registered on my 18th birthday before we could even have cake!"
Bailout Bill
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Melissa (not verified)The bailout bill failed to pass. The dow is tanking as I type right now. It is down over 500 points.
OT --- PPP today - Obama up by 2 in in NC!!! 47-45
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Catherine Cainhttp://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_NC_929.pdf
@ Catherine
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by Chris LandryThanks for that great report from Atlanta!
Great idea in Atlanta
Submitted on September 29th, 2008 by TNK (not verified)What a great idea, hitting up the gas lines. People just sitting there bored, and probably angry with the current administration, to boot.
AP has gotten the message loud & clear
Submitted on October 5th, 2008 by Mary (not verified)By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL
Associated Press Writer
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93KD6Q00&show_article=1