Update On Booing

An update on the false AP report that an audience booed at a Bush rally when President Bush announced that former President Clinton was ill:
Jeff Gannon at Talon News asked Scott Lindlaw about his report of booing at the rally:

Tom Curley, AP president and CEO, was asked by Talon News to explain the circumstances surrounding the correction.

Curley said, "The reporter and a couple others standing with him thought they heard booing. After checking of tapes, they decided it was oohs, not boos."

Curley also confirmed that Hays was not present at the Wisconsin rally, but was in New York at the time of the event. The reference to "booing" came from material provided by Lindlaw. Talon News confronted Lindlaw on Friday about the discrepancy in his reporting of the event.

When asked if he heard booing as he reported, he replied, "I did."

Lindlaw declined to be interviewed but insisted that his reporting was accurate.

Lindlaw said, "What I had to say I put in the wire."

Lindlaw refused to answer any other questions about the report. Lindlaw provided no explanation for making a charge that would create a negative impression of President Bush and his supporters.

Some have criticized Lindlaw's previous work for having an anti-Bush slant. In July, he wrote an article that used detailed quotes from a meeting of Washington, DC conservatives that was "off the record." The original source of the quotes was not Lindlaw, since he was not present at the meeting.

His story, titled "Some Key Conservatives Uneasy About Bush," suggested that because one of the 150 participants in the meeting had expressed misgivings about the Iraq war, conservatives are perhaps turning away from the president. Lindlaw quotes two men from Missouri to support his thesis, one of whom is undecided about which candidate he may vote for.

Lindlaw is sure he heard booing but, according to Powerline, Lindlaw wears earplugs during noisy rallies and he asked another AP reporter if he had heard booing and that reporter said no. So how did Lindlaw hear the boos and who were the other reporters who heard them?

Talon News is GOPUSA, a conservative news and information site.

Via Tim Blair.