Welcome Washington Post Readers: So What’s All This About the Associated Press, You Ask?

Hey Chico, thanks for the links! So for those of you who are reading about the special relationship between the Associated Press and the North Korean government for the first time, let me frame the question this way: if any news service signed an agreement with the U.S. government to get special access to information, refused to disclose the terms of that agreement, issued a series of credulous and biased articles (and at least one faked photo) relaying The Official Position, and even co-sponsored an exhibit glorifying its political leadership, wouldn’t that raise a question of that news service’s objectivity, and perhaps even its journalistic ethics?

If so, then why should it bother you any less that the government in question is one that treats its people like this? And yes, in that light, it does seem odd that a member of the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch is involved in hosting the AP’s North Korean propaganda show.