AP Joins Bloomberg in Predictable Purge of 'Unexpectedly' in Consumer

Tom Blumer
June 29th, 2011 12:37 PM
One might be an accident. Two indicates a bit of a trend. Yesterday (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that an early dispatch from Bloomberg on a disappointing consumer confidence report opened by telling readers that "Consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in June to a seven-month low ..." A later version purged the dreaded U-word ("unexpectedly"), opening with "Consumer confidence…
 

Same AP Reporter Produces Two Decidedly Different Reports on Retail Sa

Tom Blumer
July 10th, 2010 2:47 AM
I was quite surprised to see the difference in tone between two different Associated Press reports on retail sales Thursday. The earlier article, unbylined and time-stamped at 10:43 a.m. at MSNBC (HT Hot Air), has the headline "Nation’s retailers post tepid June sales" and this subheadline: "Concerns about back-to-school shopping, health of recovery." It is decidedly downbeat. The later AP item…