During the days of Jack Webb's Dragnet, an APB was police code for an All Points Bulletin--and maybe it still is on some police forces. Fausta (found via Roger L. Simon) has a similar sounding set of initials for something we rarely need an APB to locate: Associated Press Deficit Disorder.

She writes that it's been prominently sighted in Princeton:

Last year Dr. Krauthammer wrote about the Pressure Cooker Theory of Hydraulic Release, and he had previously diagnosed Bush Derangement Syndrome. In honor of Dr. K, I'm now proposing the theory of Associated Press Deficit Disorder, APDD (ae-pea-dee-dee, not to be confused with any of Sean Comb's nicknames, P-Diddy, etc.):

the innatention of Associated Press and other news agencies to the actual words said by a person who doesn't fit what AP wants to hear.

Example: Read Eric Quiñones's excellent article Rice affirms vision for peaceful, democratic Middle East, and compare it with the Associated Press's Rice: Iraq Must Not Be Given Up to Killers.

Compare the two articles in light of the actual speech (see link above). Correct me if I'm wrong, but not only was Dr. Rice's theme not limited to Iraq, she didn't even say the title statement that heads the AP article. AP couldn't even be bothered with an actual photo of the event, even when press photographers were allowed, and PU provides photos for free (see links above).

The NYT which is certainly not a world away from Princeton, couldn't be bothered sending a reporter, and printed the AP story. Worse yet, New Jersey's own Star Ledger did the same thing. CNN, Australian Broadcasting Corp., and the Miami Herald printed the story verbatim. Couldn't they have done at least like theBeeb's Pentagon Correspondent, who looked up the State Dept's link for his article?

The Trenton Times's Robert Stern doesn't suffer from APDD, and his article quoted Dr. Rice accurately and impartially.

The press needs more media people like Mr. Stern and Mr. Quiñones. That would go a long way to cure us of APDD.