Media Pundit

Bush says U.S. Won't Attack North Korea

That is the headline of an AP article that hit the wires just over an hour ago. It is currently the top headline on many news sites. Anyone who listened to the press conference, however, knows that the headline is misleading. From the AP article itself:

Bush said the United States remains committed to diplomacy but also "reserves all options to defend our friends in the region."

Reserving all options does not sound like he has ruled out the possibility of a military response. What Bush actually said was that the U.S. "has no intention of attacking" North Korea. Where have we heard that phrase before? In 2002 Bush repeatedly claimed that he had "no intention of attacking Iraq." February 2002:

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in remarks published Sunday that he has received assurances from President Bush the United States has no intention of attacking Iraq.

The significance of this is twofold:

1. The American people should (and many do) know by now that Bush cannot be trusted when he says he has no intention of attacking a country. He lied to get us into a war with one country in his "axis of evil," why wouldn't he do it again?

2. The Associated Press has a responsibility to inform their readers. The fact is, many people skim headlines and only read the articles that are particularly interesting to them. When the headline reads "Bush Says U.S. Won't Attack North Korea," many people will take them for their word and breathe a sigh of relief without actually clicking the link. By publishing the article with the headline they chose to use, the Associated Press is willingly taking part in the deception of the American people with regards to current U.S. policy on the North Korean nuclear crisis. In the AP it says:

We abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions. It means we will not knowingly introduce false information into material intended for publication or broadcast. Quotations must be accurate, and precise. If a quote's meaning is too murky to be paraphrased accurately, it should not be used.

Perhaps someone at the AP needs to re-read this section in light of their recent editorial mishap.

If you would like to contact the AP about this, as I have done, use the email address info@ap.org and please post any responses in the comments.

Technorati tags: Bush / AP / North+Korea / Media / Associated+Press / Iraq

Posted by JN on 10.11.2006 at 2:16 PM | Permalink