Editor & Publisher notices the Associated Press' "straw man story" and then does something sadly predictable when it comes to recounting conservatives' criticisms of the piece.

Reaction also came from Loven's critics, such as Powerlineblog.org, the Minnesota-based site that has chronicled Loven going back to her coverage of the 2004 presidential election. Among its complaints is Loven's alleged conflict as the wife of Roger Ballentine, an environmental consultant who has worked in the Clinton Administration and has written for liberal outlets such as New Democrats Online.

"Loven has written some astonishingly biased 'news' articles attacking President Bush," Powerlineblog.com claimed this week. It then called the straw-man piece "a new low" that "masquerades as a straight news article, but reads like a DNC press release." It ends by saying "there must be someone at AP who wants the organization to be taken seriously as a news source. If that's true, sacking Jennifer Loven would be a good first step."

Powerline did mention Loven's marriage -- but only as an explanation of what might have prompted her to write the story. The majority of the Powerline post -- which Editor & Publisher never mentions -- makes the case that Loven's purported "straw man" arguments weren't really straw men. For every "straw man" Loven cited, Powerline found a Democrat or Democrats who had taken precisely that position. Editor & Publisher's failure to report the real substance of the criticism of Loven's piece reflects poorly on them.