AP Reporter in 'Clinton Booed' Flap Stands by Claim

By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
September 13, 2004

An Associated Press reporter who filed a story that former President Clinton was 'booed' at a Wisconsin rally when President George W. Bush announced that his predecessor had been hospitalized for heart surgery is standing by his claim. Scott Lindlaw, a White House correspondent who was among the reporters traveling with President Bush during the campaign swing to several battleground states, provided the information for the story that appeared under the byline of Tom Hays.

No other news agency reported any booing and none is audible on network television clips, but the AP sent out the article with the statement, "Bush's audience of thousands in West Allis, Wis., booed. Bush did nothing to stop them."

Shortly after the article appeared on the wire, Karen Hughes, an advisor to President Bush, demanded it be corrected. The AP deleted the two sentences from the story and released it with no byline.

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.