A new study conducted at Sonoma State University shows widespread bias in Associate Press news reports in favor of the US government positions. On October 25, 2005 the American Civil Liberties (ACLU) posted to their website 44 autopsy reports, acquired from American military sources, covering the deaths of civilians who died while in US military prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2002-2004. The autopsy reports provided proof of widespread torture by US forces. A press release by ACLU announcing the deaths was immediately picked up by AP wire service making the story available to US corporate media nationwide. A thorough check of Nexus-Lexus and Proquest library data bases showed that at least 98 percent of the daily papers in the US did not to pick up the story, nor did AP ever conduct follow up coverage on the issue. The Associated Press is a non-profit cooperative news wire service. The AP with 3,700 employees has 242 bureaus worldwide that deliver news reports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to 121 countries in 5 languages including English, German, Dutch, French, and Spanish. In the US alone, AP reaches 1,700 daily, weekly, non-English, college newspapers, and 5,000 radio […]
Monday, July 24th, 2006
News Bias in the Associated Press
Author: PETER PHILLIPS
Source: Common Dreams.org
Publication Date: July 22, 2006
Link: News Bias in the Associated Press
Source: Common Dreams.org
Publication Date: July 22, 2006
Link: News Bias in the Associated Press
Stephan: Peter Phillips is a professor of sociology at Sonoma State University and Director of Project Censored. University research interns Sarah Randle, Brian Fuchs, Zoe Huffman, and Fabrice Romero assisted with this report. The full AP bias study is available on-line at http://www.projectcensored.org/newsflash/ap_bias.html