Associated Press Quoted Head Of "Firefighters For Rudy" -- Without Mentioning He's A Rudy Aide
March 9, 2007 -- 4:59 PM EST // //
Oh, how embarrassing.
The Associated Press got completely snookered today in its coverage of the flap between Rudy Giuliani and the firefighters -- the news org actually quoted someone and identified him as the head of an independent group called "Firefighters for Rudy," without mentioning that he is actually a Rudy aide.
If you aren't up to speed on the story of Rudy and the firefighters, the basics are that an international firefighters union made news by slamming Rudy over certain aspects of his performance on 9/11 -- a potentially damaging story, since his allegedly Churchillian 9/11 leadership is perhaps the central selling point of his Presidential campaign.
The Rudy people struck back today, sending out a campaign release offering interviews with Tim Brown, who was identified as the executive director of a group called "Firefighters for Rudy." Here's how the AP wrote about this:
Tim Brown, a former firefighter and the executive director of Firefighters for Rudy, added: "We are honored by the support of so many first responders from across the country and are appreciative of their continued enthusiasm for Mayor Giuliani's candidacy."
As you can see, the AP treated Brown and his group as if they comprise a genuinely independent organization.
Unfortunately for the AP, however, a cursory bit of checking reveals that Tim Brown is actually an aide to Rudy, and it's unclear whether the group even has a membership larger than just Tim Brown. The phone number the campaign offered for the group is actually the same as that of the Rudy campaign's press office. Even the Daily News knew to describe "Firefighters for Rudy" as a "campaign offshoot," which isn't enough, but it's at least a start in the right direction.
Yet the AP swallowed Tim Brown and his "Firefighters for Rudy" up in one big credulous gulp. Whoops!
Update: AP has now corrected the screw-up, changing it to read: "Tim Brown, a former firefighter and executive director of Firefighters for Rudy who is also a Giuliani campaign aide..." I still would love to know how many members this "group" has. If it has only one or two members, is it really a group? Questions, questions...
Meanwhile, if you're interested, you can still see the original version here.
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