The Minneapolis Star Tribune Says "No" to Fournier Spin

by Jonathan Singer [courtesy of MyDD]

Over the weekend I asked if the Associated Press' Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier, who previously held months of talks with the McCain campaign about taking a senior level position with the committee, was moonlighting for the McCain campaign. In short, an "analysis" piece by Fournier read like straight talking points for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Both MoveOn and FireDogLake launched action items to try to pressure both the AP and its subscribers to act responsibly with regards to Fournier and force him to recuse himself from covering the Presidential campaign. At least one newspaper, the Star Tribute of Minneapolis and St. Paul, took notice, and although they were not particularly happy to have been inundated by the emails from MoveOn members, they seemed to agree with the sentiment.

Having said that, these letter writers raise a legitimate point. Fournier was in discussions about joining the McCain campaign and was pretty cozy with Karl Rove while he was still in the White House. So when he wrote in a news analysis that that the selection of Joe Biden as Barack Obama's running mate showed a lack of "self-confidence," I wonder who was doing the analysis: the AP bureau chief or the man romanced by the McCain campaign?

If he were writing for the opinion page, no problem. As the head of the AP's most important bureau -- directing reporters and determining coverage - it's troubling.

It's time for the AP to own up to its mistake and tell Fournier to either recuse himself or step down from his position. There's already one Fox News in the world -- we don't need another one sending stories over its wires to every newspaper in the world.