The Mockery of it All

Or everything AP at least. The ROI on this is atrocious so I wonder what the guys in the Finance office think:

If you wonder why American newspapering is dying, consider this sign-off:


AP writers Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard, Garance Burke, Dan Joling and Lewis Shaine contributed to this report.


Wow. That's ten "AP writers" plus Calvin Woodward, the AP writer whose twinkling pen honed the above contributions into the turgid sludge of the actual report. That's 11 writers for a 695-word report. What on? Obamacare? The Iranian nuke program? The upcoming trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?


No, the Associated Press assigned 11 writers to "fact-check" Sarah Palin's new book, and in return the 11 fact-checkers triumphantly unearthed six errors. That's 1.8333333 writers for each error. What earth-shattering misstatements did they uncover for this impressive investment?

Nothing worth mentioning, though Steyn does go on to include the horrors errors. Suffice to say, AP paid 11 people an undetermined amount of money to pick at nits.

As an added bonus, Steyn goes on to note the free transcription services provided by Media Matters.