"The AP did neither, it contends, but that's not the main thrust here."

In last week's "message from headquarters," LPGA Commish Carolyn Bivens made a big fuss about the AP running a corrected story, when, as was pointed out here, there wasn't much to correct.

Seems, the AP did not correct the story, as Thomas Bonk writes in his LATimes.com column:

Four days later, in a two-page memo from Commissioner Carolyn Bivens to LPGA members (but leaked to news agencies all over the place), Bivens explains the incident, defends the rules official and says the Associated Press misquoted the official and ran a correction.

The AP did neither, it contends, but that's not the main thrust here. Why such a memo was necessary in the first place is an issue, but then so is a potentially greater after-effect, such as, why give the impression that you're picking on Wie again when the thing is already done?

Comments

[thusgone]

is mendacious high-handedness one of the basic qualities golf tours look for when they hire commissioners?

[F. X.]

The AP didn't misquote and the AP didn't run a correction. Why did Carolyn Bivens say they did? There is a parallel here about honor and integrity, right?

I say thumbs down on this commish.

[johnN]

here is a link I saw regarding a correction from the AP regarding the State Farm story

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/news?slug=ap-lpgatour-wiedisqualified&prov=ap&type=lgns

It reads:

"In an initial version of a July 19 story about Michelle Wie’s disqualification from the State Farm Classic, The Associated Press erroneously reported a quote from Sue Witters, the LPGA’s director of tournament competitions. Witters said: “She was like looking at a little kid after you tell them there’s no Santa Claus.” In the original story, the words “looking at” were deleted."

[jane]

hummmm, seems it wasn't very difficult to find the AP correction. Why would bloggers and reporters deny a mistake was made.

LPGA is a member owned organization. seems communicating to the members about a topic in the news is a good idea...right?

[Wayne]

Here's what the original July 19th AP story said: "She was like a little kid after you tell them there's no Santa Claus," Witters said. But if you watch the press conference video Witter does say "looking at" as the corrected story indicates. Also, Witter never said: "I felt like I was telling a little kid there was no Santa Claus." in either the AP story or the press conference video although this line was attributed to her in this blog yesterday. Perhaps she said it somewhere else. So much erroneous information over such a simple thing that it makes you dubious about more important stories (okay, so I was already).

[JohnN]

Witters mentions Santa Claus 2 times in the copy of the transcript.

"There was never at any point did she try to deceive us. She couldn't have been more honest. It was a total, total mistake. There was no malice involved. She was like looking at a little kid after you tell them there's no Santa Claus."

"She was very forthcoming. It was like I said, that's the only analogy I can make, I felt like I was telling somebody there was no Santa Claus."

[Wayne]

JohnN - Thanks for pointing out the source of that comment. The problem for me was that on this blog yesterday it indicated that that quote was part of the AP retraction, which it was not. It also said that the AP had the other quote correct the first time, which they did not. They omitted "looking like." So I'm confused as to why this blog chastised the LPGA.