Follow-up: AP TV Says Etheridge 'Manhandles' Questioner; Text Coverage Goes Soft

June 15th, 2010 12:58 PM
APteaseForEtheridgeVid061510

It would appear, based on the graphic tease reproduced at the right and the underlying content, that the folks putting together videos at the Associated Press didn't get the memo that they should go as soft as possible on North Carolina Democratic Congressman Bob Etheridge.

Etheridge arguably committed assault "last week" when approached on a public street. The description of what occurred and its aftermath at AP video is quite a bit stronger than what is found in AP Reporter Martha Waggoner's Monday evening text report, as you will see shortly.

Despite having over 400 words with which to work, Waggoner also failed to record a comment -- or even a "no comment" -- from anyone else in the Democratic Party, or to give any indication that she or anyone else at AP tried to contact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, any other Democrat in a leadership position, or anyone in the Obama administration.

Here's what the video and accompanying description look like in the AP's Raw Video report, which re-runs the original video without the original producer's interspersed words:

 

APrawVidOnEtheridgeAssault061510

Now let's look how Waggoner chose to describe the physical actions that occurred (bolded), and how obsessed she is with the video's origins:

A Democratic congressman apologized Monday after video posted online showed him swatting at the camera, demanding that two men taping him identify themselves and grabbing one of them by the wrist and neck.

"I deeply and profoundly regret my reaction and I apologize to all involved," Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina said in a statement. "No matter how intrusive and partisan our politics can become, this does not justify a poor response."

The video was posted on websites owned by Andrew Breitbart, the conservative Web entrepreneur who also released video of workers for the community organizing group ACORN counseling actors posing as a pimp and prostitute.

It shows two men approaching Etheridge with a camera on a Washington street. He swats at the camera and repeatedly asks the men who they are. When they say they are students, he grabs one by the wrist and quickly by the back of the neck before pulling him against his side.

... In a telephone interview from London, Breitbart declined to name the students who recorded the video, saying he wanted to protect them. The two do not work for Breitbart and were not paid, he said.

A Breitbart employee found the video online, edited it and posted it, he said. A story accompanying the video on a Breitbart website says the video was recorded last week. Etheridge declined to say when the encounter occurred.

As was the case with the AP's unbylined initial report discussed yesterday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), Waggoner did not go to any legal experts to get their opinion as to whether Etheridge's actions could be seen as an instance of criminal assault.

It's not an argumentative leap to say that the if a Republican or conservative had committed such an action, the AP and other establishment media outlets would not be leaving the GOP leadership and other party members alone, would be giving the incident far more play than it has received thus far, and would likely be using stronger words to describe the physical aspects of what happened.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.