Since when did the AP writers come from middle school?

Depends on the preceding sentence/paragraph.

 

"You have to believe!!!!" -- Tug McGraw

 

If the speaker says "gotta," I have no problems with quoting him or her as saying that.

Some of the writing I've seen in media these days has been pretty bad, but I'm not going to harp on using the word "gotta" or the word "gonna."

 

So it's not one of five things wrong with the AP?

 

Agreed. If they don't wanna sound like middle schoolers, then they can speak proper English.

 

OK then. Fair enough. Do you also leave in all of the "Well, you know, it's like, um, uh, you know what I'm saying ..."

Can't have it both ways.

 

I love seeing "intensive purposes" in direct quotes.

 

Watch it Buster.

As for the question at hand, I'd like to think every one of them came through a middle school of some sort. On top of which, it's possible the writers in the San Juan bureau are ESLs and not completely up on the dialectic nuances.

One other thought: If this is what you're down to complaining about, things must not be all that bad. Quit yer bitchin'.

 

Sometimes you have to take the interrogative and fix spellings for the speaker.

 

A buddy of mine who is entertainment editor at the local daily posted yesterday that this was in a news release about a band's new album:
"...chalk full of elegant arrangements."

Lovely.