I got another response from the AP reporter featured here earlier.

Hi Mick,

Sorry for my delay in replying — it’s been a busy week.

You’re right — the remainder of that quote from Colleen Taylor did originate from something I wrote.

AP stories often have several versions. A local version (released to media outlets in Kansas and Missouri), which is likely what you saw in the Star, came first. Then a national version, which was mostly the same in this case, was released a couple of days later.

Taylor’s quote did get trimmed from the national version.

I never do tell readers the position of the guy in the lead, Mike Payne, though you have correctly assumed that he is against private accounts. There were at least a handful of individuals at the event Payne attended that seemed in favor of the Bush plan, though because they were not members of the demographic I was writing about, I did not include them.

The intent of the story was simply to highlight an interest — and activisim — on the part of young people in a topic that the demographic had not demonstrated before.

But since it’s a political issue, too, I included commentators from both sides of the debate.

My reporting showed most of the activism on the part of young people lining up against Social Security reform. That said, I still would have liked to have found some 20-somethings who are mobilizing in support of the Bush administration plan.

As far as the poll I included, I don’t see it as unfavorable to the president. I clearly write: “Young adults have been among the strongest backers of Bush’s proposal for months.”

I chose the Pew poll because it was the most recent survey at the time that included young people’s perceptions and was not backed by either side of the debate, like so many others.

I still do believe my article was fair. But perhaps it could have been better. And I appreciate readers like you pointing that out to me.

Thanks again for your note.

All the best,

Matt

That’s quite impressive, I must say.

As I said before, it looks like I need to be more careful before I assume that a story’s bias reflects on the reporter, rather than local editors. In this case, the AP reporter did a good job. Instead, some local editor at the Commerical Appeal is to blame for the anti-Bush spin the local version offered.

It looks like the LA Times is guilty of playing a similar game. See Patterico for more.