A short unbylined Associated Press report at its national site on the situation at Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana this afternoon made sure to mention that the pizzeria "won't cater gay weddings" (in the headline).
It also misstated the owner's statement to a South Bend TV station, claiming, using its own words, that she "said the state's new religious objections law backs their right to deny catering to a same-sex wedding." (Sorry, the statement that they wouldn't cater a same wedding was independent of any legal opinion.)
The report also forced readers to infer that the store has never been asked to cater in such circumstances. Finally, as of late this afternoon, the South Bend Tribune article to which the AP linked, which was about how the town's cops have increased their patrols in the area in the wake of online and other threats, mentioned "an online fundraising site established to support Memories Pizza." Of course, the AP didn't.
Here's a graphic grab of the write-up:
The writeup acts as if it's only the police chief "saying" that the restaurant "has received threats," and as if no one else in the whole world has seen this very real and very public tweeted threat:
As of when the AP writeup's time stamp, the GoFundMe effort supporting Memories had raised well over $100,000. The South Bend Tribune reported that the amount had risen to "more than $259,000 in donations as of 5:45 p.m. Thursday."
The shameless AP has deliberately ignored the outpouring of genuine, tangible support for Memories Pizza and the O'Connors, shamefully doing its part to keep this heartwarming element of the story confined to the center-right media and blogosphere. One must conclude that it wants to give the world the impression that the O'Connors are isolated, alone and defeated. They are not.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
