Now the AP reports that Sheehan was “hurt slightly” when the NYPD broke up her circus because it didn’t have a loudspeaker permit. Who was the AP’s only source for this claim? Why, who else?
“I was speaking and someone grabbed my backpack and pulled me back pretty roughly,” Sheehan said, describing the scene at Manhattan’s Union Square on Monday. “I was shoved around.”
And as all good skeptical reporters know, there’s no PR value in getting shoved around by police. It’s ok to take Sheehan’s word for it.
But this is hilarious too. ABC News picked up the AP story and gave it this headline and subhead:
Peace Activist Sheehan Hurt at Rally
Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan Says She Was Roughed Up at New York Rally Scuffle
But then the AP report explicitly states:
Sheehan, the grieving mother whose vigil near President Bush’s Texas ranch sparked anti-war protests around the country, said wasn’t roughed up by police, but was jostled when officers broke up the rally and arrested organizer Paul Zulkowitz.
Whoops.
UPDATE: The subhead is still not corrected. Let’s let ABC News know that they need to read their AP wire copy more closely, so that they don’t mess up the details when they reprint the AP’s unsubstantiated accusations.