Why Does the Associated Press Change Its Articles?

Russ Kick

The Associated Press is a newswire service that sends stories to 1,700 newspapers and 5,000 radio and TV stations in the US, not to mention an additional 8,500 media outlets in over 100 other countries. A nonprofit collective owned by 1,550 daily US newspapers, the AP estimates that its news reaches over a billion people every day. Founded in 1848 and currently employing over 3,500 people, the AP describes itself as “the oldest and largest news organization in the world.”

The AP often releases two, three, or more versions of one story on its newswire. The changes usually aren’t nefarious. Sometimes a story continues to develop, so the AP updates the original story, then re-releases it with the new information. In other instances, they correct a mistake in an earlier version, or the changes can be for more obscure reasons, such as making the story shorter so more newspapers will run it. Overall, the changes are usually made for legitimate reasons.

But a few of the changes are highly suspicious and certainly are of benefit to those in power. Comparing multiple versions of the same article coming off the AP’s wire is a laborious and usually boring process. I was only able do a little bit here and there, but even my very sporadic efforts uncovered some strange goings-on, ranging from changing the phrasing of headlines and key passages all the way to outright deleting damaging information.

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The National Security Agency Disappears from an “Alleged” Spy Network

On July 5, 2000, AP released two versions of an article about the European Parliament voting to expand its probe into Echelon, the US-based communications-eavesdropping network that monitors phone calls, faxes, and email worldwide. At 5:33 PM, the headline read, “European Parliament Votes for Wider Probe Into US Spying.” The hammer must’ve come down awfully fast, because when the second version of the article was put on the wire at 6:14 PM, the headline had been softened considerably: “Europe Votes for Wider Probe of Alleged U.S. Spy Network.” Ah, so now the spying is merely “alleged.” And, more subtly, it’s not even US “spying” anymore-it’s just a “spy network.” They may or may not be actively spying, but the network is there. Allegedly.

The first version starts out: “The European Parliament voted Wednesday to widen a probe into a U.S.-led spy network accused of monitoring billions of phone calls, e-mails and faxes, but denied investigators the right to call witnesses.”

But the second version begins: “The European Parliament voted Wednesday to widen a probe into an alleged U.S. spy network that many assembly members say Washington is using to snoop on the businesses of its European allies.”

In the second paragraph of the original version, Echelon is identified as “a global satellite eavesdropping service believed to be run chiefly by the U.S. National Security Agency.” But in the same paragraph of the second version, Echelon is merely a system “which is believed capable of intercepting billions of phone calls, e-mails and faxes per hour worldwide.” Not only was the National Security Association removed from that paragraph, it was removed from the entire article. People reading the later version of the article-the one that would be picked up by most newspapers-would have no clue as to who might be running Echelon.

Another interesting change occurred regarding the US’s acknowledgement of Echelon. In the first version of the article, we learn that, “U.S. intelligence officials have never confirmed its existence, nor do they deny it.” But a mere hour and a half later, the situation had apparently changed: “U.S. intelligence officials have never publicly confirmed the existence of such a system. They have denied eavesdropping on ordinary American and European citizens.” Strange, too, that this information was moved from its original place within the eight paragraph of the article up to the much more prominent position of being the entire third paragraph.

Although the second version of the article is over 30 words shorter than the original, AP was somehow able to find the space to add two exculpatory, completely new paragraphs as a conclusion:

The motion would have given investigators the power to order witnesses to testify, which the Greens had hoped to use to compel several U.S. officials, including CIA Director George Tenet and Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden, head of the National Security Agency, to testify before the committee. Both have denied reports the United States was involved in spying on Europeans and Americans as part of a satellite surveillance network in testimony to the U.S. Congressional House Intelligence Committee.

this article copyright 2001 Russ Kick
You Are Being Lied To copyright 2001
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