Did you know that activist filmmaker James O'Keefe and partner Hannah Giles made only one undercover video showing ACORN employees willing to assist them in illegal and human rights-violating activities?
Absent prior knowledge, that's the impression you would have upon reading the Associated Press's coverage of the latest development in the ACORN saga, namely the raid on the organization's New Orleans office by Louisiana state investigators.
AP writer Cain Burdeau only mentions O'Keefe's and Giles's videotaping efforts in Baltimore. The fact is that the pair have thus far presented the results of their efforts in five other locations, and may have more episodes in inventory for other opportune times.
Here are the first five paragraphs of Budreau's coverage (bold is mine):
Computers, records seized at ACORN offices in La.
State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans.
"This is an investigation of everything - ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law," Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.
ACORN staff on the scene declined to comment, but an attorney for the group said in a statement the raid was prompted by allegations that former ACORN employees had removed or altered electronic documents and may do so in the future.
Attorney Pamela Marple said ACORN was cooperating and called the raid exhaustive, saying investigators wanted "virtually every document in the possession of ACORN and any related entity."
The raid was the latest development for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Videotapes released recently showed ACORN employees offering tax advice to two people in Baltimore posing as a prostitute and her pimp. The videos led Congress and state governments to cut funding for ACORN.
For the record, the other locations besides Baltimore where O'Keefe and Giles have shown results of their undercover visits are Washington DC, New York/Brooklyn, San Bernardino CA, San Diego, and Philadelphia.
In an article of over 400 words, Burdeau clearly could have included "and five other cities" in his paragraph that mentioned Baltimore. But he didn't. There's no good explanation for this failure other than a conscious effort to minimize the comprehensive nationwide significance of the O'Keefe's and Giles's work. It would appear that the AP would rather that as few readers as possible know that the intrepid pair have exposed and organization that from all appearances is corrupt to its very core, from sea to shining sea.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
