AP need not worry ... at the moment

Via TNC, The Wonk Room reminds CNN that there's no such thing as the “Assistant Secretary of State for African American Affairs.” In fact, Susan Rice was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1997-2001.

Ouch.

This little gaffe comes only days before CNN makes its pitch to about 30 newspapers to propose a cheaper, smaller-scale wire service to compete with The Associated Press. Bad timing, don't you think?

UPDATE: This is not to say that CNN couldn't, in time, pose a serious threat to the AP. Steve Benen explains here. CNN already has the resources and international name-recognition to make this work. And some newspapers are already dropping the AP, something that seemed unthinkable as recently as a few years ago. It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds.