TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT TO HEAR — THAT’S INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM! German mediablogger David Kaspar emails with this bit about the Associated Press’s coverage of reactions to Bush’s speech:

AP distributed a release of US citizens reactions to the “Address of the President to the Nation” of Sunday night.

The US version of AP’s release is presented by Fox News. AP quotes five US citizens with positive reactions to President Bush’s speech, and four with negative reactions.

The same release is distributed by AP in a German version. In this version, some quotes of the US version are omitted, others were added. Result: two US citizens are quoted with positive reactions to President Bush’s speech, and five with negative reactions.

Title of the US version: “Americans React to Bush Speech”

Title of the German version: “Hurra-Rede statt Substanz” (“Hurray-Speech Instead of Substance”)

I can hardly blame my fellow German citizens for their antiamerican feelings -they are nurtured by the distortions of international news agencies.

And it’s not even Reuters! (Here’s the original post, in German.)