In riot-torn Britain, AP Bureau Chief Paisely Dodds injects her lefty views into news coverage

By David Paulin

In an article about how social media is helping to energize Britain’s youthful rioters, the left-leaning views of AP's London Bureau Chief Paisley Dodds were on display -- yet again.

Dodds, the American-born daughter of hippie parents, is known for her sharp-elbows and "attitude" among AP colleagues. And in past articles about Britain, Dodds has been clear about one thing. The country, she firmly believes, is brimming full of "white male privilege" and class-conscious "elites." Writing about the role of social media in fueling the riots, she injected her political views -- from out of the blue -- into her reporting in order to put the rioting into context. She wrote:

"Britain is full of contrasts between the haves and have-nots, where areas of soot-stained apartment buildings are a stone's throw from Buckingham Palace. It is also a place where the class system is imprinted on the country's social fabric, seen clearly in the political and business elite.

"Prime Minister David Cameron, known for his posh accent and privileged education, is thought to have lost votes in last year's election because he was seen as too much of an elitist who couldn't understand the common man."

Those are pretty sweeping statements -- and just how true they are in Britain today is highly debatable, especially in respect to Britain's "class system." But no doubt, those statements say much about Dodds and the agenda she is perusing as a journalist, not to mention her ego.

Before her London gig, Dodds was news editor in the AP's Caribbean bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There, she and long-time gal pal Michelle Faul, who was bureau chief, pushed a common theme in their Guantanamo reporting: The people imprisoned there were innocents being held illegally -- "without charges"! Or as Dodds said on MSNBC in 2005: "The biggest issue is that you have about 550 men who are presumed innocent, who have been held at the prison camp for more than three years."

Presumed innocent? Held without charges? Hey, Paisley, maybe you can explain something: If any Japanese pilots had been shot down and captured during the attack on Pearl Harbor, would you have insisted that they be tried as common criminals in America's court system?

As London and other cities in Britain burn, be on the look out for Dodds to subtly inject into her reporting the notion that the thugs in the street are rebelling against Britain's "elites," "white male privilege," and various social "injustices."

Dodds, incidentally, is more than 40 years old, but the only AP photo that's available of her is one in which she appears to be in her mid 20s.

Also see a related post at this blog: "A Story the AP Plays Down: Released Guantanamo Inmates Return to the Battlefield." And see this post as well: "Kuwait's Gitmo solution: Kill them!"

No comment....Dodd's Twitter photo: