Why Is The AP Being Dropped?

Breitbart is reporting the Chicago Tribune and six other newspapers are dropping the AP news service. 

Long-time Chicago media watcher Robert Feder says that switching to Reuters could save the Tribune as much as $5 million a year. …..

Chicago’s other major paper, the Sun-Times, is also having contraction pains. The more left-leaning paper has shuttered six of its suburban newsrooms in a cost savings effort. The Sun-Times is also attempting to reset its focus more on its digital products.

The AP, for the most part, quit being a news service, and has moved to interpret the news for you.  Even the Chicago Tribune is forced to understand the quality of the product doesn’t justify the cost.  The AP spins things beyond what is reasonable. 

Today, we have two fine examples of their spin.

Here’s some headlines generated by AP stories……

Obama to fly to home early as ‘fiscal cliff’ looms

Obama cuts vacation short as ‘fiscal cliff’ looms – Yahoo! News

Obama cuts vacation short as ‘fiscal cliff’ looms

That’s great!  Barry Zero, realizing that it was stupid to run off on vacation as the nation faces an economic crisis, cuts his vacation short to address the urgent needs of the nation!!!  Right?  No, of course that’s not what happened. 

Before he departed for Hawaii, Obama told reporters he expected to be back in the capital the following week.

Barry Zero went to Hawaii with the full expectation of being back in Washington this week.  He went on vacation knowing full well he had this issue to deal with.  Why did the AP spin it like he was doing something magnanimous when it was his lack of seriousness that caused him to go to Hawaii in the first place? 

Then there’s the crappy economic news from this holiday season.  Here’s another AP story….

US retailers report weakest holiday sales since 2008

US holiday retail sales growth weakest since 2008 – Yahoo! News

And, there’s many, many more examples of these headlines.  Okay, the headlines are pretty straightforward.  But, it’s the story which has the spin this time.

Look at how they ordered the reasons for the lack of holiday spending….

Shoppers were buffeted this year by a string of events that made them less likely to spend: Superstorm Sandy and other bad weather, the distraction of the presidential election and grief about the massacre of schoolchildren in Newtown, Connecticut. The numbers also show how Washington’s current budget impasse is trickling down to Main Street and unsettling consumers. If Americans remain reluctant to spend, analysts say, economic growth could falter next year.

There’s so many things wrong with this paragraph, it’s hard to know where to start.  First of all, all of the reasons given is simply opinionated speculation.  This isn’t news, it’s an opinion piece!  But, let’s look at the specifics……  Sandy and other bad weather?  So, they’re trying to present the weather this fall as unusual?  There hasn’t been, in my memory, a holiday season without some weather event at some location in the US.  There is always somewhere where there is snow, or ice storms, or some other event.  This year wasn’t any different than any other year.  Then there’s the idiocy about the distraction presidential election which caused consumers to spend less?  The damned thing was over Nov 9!.  Spending doesn’t ramp up until weeks after that distraction!!  Then the author babbles some inanity about the massacre of schoolchildren?  How does that inhibit spending on children?  If it had any effect on retail sales, (and it did) it would have increased retail sales, not decreased it.   Then and only then did the story mention the budget impasse, as if the average American is paying attention to that. 

Lastly, note the final sentence in the para…. “If Americans remain reluctant to spend, analysts say, economic growth could falter next year.” ….  Economic growth in the US is expected to falter regardless of a shift in the attitude of the American consumer.  They’re shifting the blame from the policy makers to the public.  As if it’s our fault we have such a crappy economy. 

Why is the AP being dropped?  People don’t like to have smoke blown up their nether regions.  Their product is crap and it’s overpriced.  Good riddance.  It’s demise can’t come soon enough.