Philip Elliott Continues AP's Reporting Difficulties

Here is Associated Press writer Philip Elliott's contradictory description of leading Republican views on "death panels" in the Senate bill:

"Congress' proposals, however, seemed likely to strike end-of-life counseling sessions. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has called the session 'death panels,' a label that has drawn rebuke from her fellow Republicans as well as Democrats.

"Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, declined to criticize Palin's comments and said Obama wants to create a government-run panel to advise what types of care would be available to citizens.

"'In all honesty, I don't want a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats setting health care for my aged citizens in Utah,' Hatch said."

Huh? After asserting that Palin's label has drawn rebuke from fellow Republicans, Elliott quotes a Republican senator who not only "declined to criticize Palin's comments" but in fact said something quite similar to Palin's critique: ". . . I don't want a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats setting health care for my aged citizens in Utah . . . ."

All this in three consecutive paragraphs. Maybe Elliott doesn't read his own stuff. Just writes stream of consciousness. Certainly he doesn't follow his own logic.

But at least Elliott did back off from AP colleague Matthew Daly's contradictory assertion in similar back-to-back paragraphs that Palin's criticism of the panels had been "debunked" but the panels had still been removed from the Senate version of the bill after her criticism because they might be incorrectly "implemented". Elliott did withdraw the previous AP assertion that Palin's criticism was "debunked" and downsized it to had "drawn rebuke".

Poor AP. Its deep budget and personnel cuts continue to impact the quality of its reporting.

UPDATE: To compare AP's version with how competent reporters handle the story see the Reuters' account.