The Associated Press, also known as the AP News, is an American independent news agency based in New York City. It was founded in 18 46, by a partnership between four U.S. newspaper publishers. Its original members were U.S. dailies and broadcast media. Today, AP news stories, widely distributed to its global customers and clients, are published in English, Spanish and Arabic.
The AP regularly carries stories from major international newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Le Monde. These papers tend to be very unfavorable to the United States, and are consequently often ignored or rejected by AP. However, there are some major U.S. dailies that tend to have a liberal slant. Therefore, if you want your story to make it to the AP News, you need to focus on stories that the AP considers more neutral or left-wing, rather than those that reflect a particular point of view. Additionally, there are instances where AP News stories are completely inaccurate, misleading, or simply made up.
One of the most prominent examples of a news story that has been repeatedly distorted by AP News over the years is their perennial “AP Style” rating, which they use for everything from local stories to national news. A recent example of this was an article discussing Michelle Obama’s first wedding plan. AP listed several details about the first couple’s wedding, which were later completely false. The fact checker for AP did not catch the error, but instead allowed the AP to publish the erroneous information.
There are many other instances in which the AP often distorts the facts in order to place themselves in a better light. For example, they often report on environmental issues with a heavy political slant. As we have noted before, many environmentalists are extremely politically motivated and will spin any inconvenient information in a way that benefits their cause. This is just one more example of a media bias. If reporters and editors want to change the world, they need to be careful what direction they take. Reporting information without first checking it for accuracy is almost sure to create a large political bias.
No matter how many times the AP gets it wrong, they still manage to make the news. Whether they do it deliberately or not, their biased slant is their own personal fault and not something inherent in the news. The fact checkers at the AP have no business pretending to be impartial when they clearly cannot be.
Hopefully, the next time you read an AP News story, you will take the time to check for any obvious bias or errors. Even if you only check one or two, you will be making a huge difference in the world. The fact checkers at the AP are an invaluable asset to have in the media landscape, but they should stick to what they are good at. That is covering the news, not promoting their own political party. Please consider all this.