Fun AP foibles — AP article sumarizes tonights debate before it happens

The Associated Press accidentally pre-published an article sumarizing tonights debate as if it had already happened. The article entitled "Economy, Iraq War Frame Bush-Kerry Debate" was emailed to me by a friend (thanks Shannon) before it was corrected and I've placed a screen snap of the entire AP article online for your reading pleasure. While funny the article does not reveal any scandelous bias.

Prewriting articles is not an uncommon practice for big events. Just prior to the last presidential debate there was a very funny skit on the Daily Show about the subject. Unforetuneatly I can't put, nor find a copy of that online.

In a related incident Action 2 News of Green Bay Wisconsin accidentally published an AP test article yesterday saying Bush had won the election. You can check out a screen snap of the article. Even better is the retraction posted on Action 2's website and the discussion on the DailyKOS.com blog.

With less than a month before the presidential election, an Associated Press test article declaring President Bush the winner was picked up by WBAY.com's automated system. The article was not recognized by our web host's system as a test message.

The mistake was picked up by a discussion group on Daily Kos, prompting a phone call that alerted us to the problem. Our web host, WorldNow, removed the story in less than five minutes. The article appeared on WBAY.com for 35 minutes.

WBAY apologizes for the error, and we took quick action to correct it.

WBAY-Coverage You Can Count On: Correction: President Bush Did Not Win Election on October 7

UPDATE: More funny blog coverage of the WBAY article.

Funny knee-jerk reaction on Boing Boing

Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Perhaps some bloggers are getting a little over-zelous in their roles as media watch-dogs.