The Associated Press appeared to stealth edit an article Sunday about a rally for Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke.
The former Texas Congressman, who recently lost a bid to unseat Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, held a rally Saturday in his home town of El Paso, and according to the AP’s original story, he “spoke at length in his native Spanish.”
This is @AP coverage of the #Beto launch rally. … he “spoke at length in his native Spanish…”
Neato. pic.twitter.com/AOLWRa0I21
— David Martosko (@dmartosko) March 31, 2019
The problem is, Spanish is not O’Rourke’s native tongue. Descended from Irish Americans, O’Rourke’s first language is English — and as of Sunday, the AP article had been corrected to read slightly differently than it did on Saturday. (RELATED: Beto O’Rourle Has First Brush With The Law On 2020 Campaign Trail)
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke declares that immigrants make the country safer as he stages rallies across Texas to formally kick off his 2020 White House bid. https://t.co/NhTliA9iHB
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 31, 2019
The altered paragraph now reads:
‘We have learned not to fear our differences, but to respect and embrace them,’ he told a crowd that waved small American flags and black-and-white signs reading ‘Viva Beto’ while often interrupting their candidate to chant his first name. O’Rourke also spoke at length in Spanish, eliciting loud and sustained cheers.
In spite of what appeared to be a noticeable correction, the edited article did not contain a note of any kind indicating that a change had been made.