Same old same old at the Associated Press.

Reporter writes a story about an indicted congressman.  The indicted congressman's party is, ummm, implied.  In the 9th paragraph.  The same reporter writes a story about a different indicted congressman.  That indicted congressman's party is the first word of the story.  Guess which party gets which treatment?

BizzyBlog has it all, including this (priceless!) reader comment:

As a journalist, I was always instructed that, on first use, a member of Congress must be identified in a standardized way, i.e. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), John Boehner (R-Florida). If this practice were still followed, it wouldn’t matter whether the reporter ever mentioned party affiliation elsewhere.

Oh, and this guidance came from a quaint little book known as the AP Stylebook. I wonder if the AP still has copies around.

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 20:45:50 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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