AP smears the JBS.(Correction, Please!)(Associated Press on the John Birch Society)

ITEM: On May 22. Associated Press reporter Sheila Byrd had an article published, entitled "Pulpit and the Pews." on "how America's racial landscape is navigated daily." She included interviews from across the country, including San Marino, California. When discussing a search for a new pastor at San Marino Congregational Church, Byrd slipped in the following: "Before the 1960s, it was common for properties in San Marino to have a legal stipulation banning sales to blacks and Jews, and until 1989 the city was national headquarters to the ultraconservative, anti-communist John Birch Society," implying that the John Birch Society condones racism and bigotry.

The article ran in more than 130 news outlets over the Memorial Day weekend. Subsequently, after being contacted by the John Birch Society about the unwarranted juxtaposition, the wire service ran a clarification: "In a story May 22, The Associated Press reported that The John Birch Society had its national headquarters in San Marino, Calif., until 1989. The story should have noted that prior to 1989, the organization [sic] had two national offices, one in Belmont, Mass., and one in San Marino."

CORRECTION: First, in the interest of full disclosure, the reader should know that this writer is the public relations manager for the John Birch Society and that the JBS is the parent organization for THE NEW AMERICAN.

The Associated Press claims their story did not besmirch the John Birch Society but, in fact, reported two separate details--that there was racism in San Marino and that, in an unrelated but interesting side note, the John Birch Society also had its headquarters there. The wire service has not acknowledged that the story, as written, would naturally (and erroneously) lead readers to infer that the John Birch Society was headquartered in San Marino because of the racist and anti-Semitic example demonstrated by the legal stipulation.

The JBS sent an e-mail to the reporter and two others in the Jackson, Mississippi, AP Bureau telling them that they were "feeding into old, deceptive stereotypes that are easily mentioned, but never backed up by evidence." They were asked to produce evidence of their claims, so corrective measures could be taken. None was produced. They were also asked to run coverage of our reply, as well as reprimand all involved in reporting this article.

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Jack Stokes, Manager of Media Relations for AP, wrote back: