July 02, 2011
It is irresponsible to run a story with a statement from one politician saying it is sunny and warm in Alaska and another saying that actually the temperature is below zero and it’s snowing. There are real conditions in Alaska that the reporter should know and be able to tell readers. This information will let readers know that one politician is being largely truthful, while one is not. Reporters who have a job reporting the news have the time to find out about the actual weather conditions in Alaska. Readers generally do not.
By this same standard, the NYT printed a horribly irresponsible piece on the shutdown of Minnesota’s government. This article included a quote from the Republican House Speaker, Kurt Zellers:
“We’re talking about runaway spending that we can’t afford,… And we will not saddle our children and grandchildren with mounds of debts with promises for funding levels that will not be there in the future.”
While the article also includes a quote from the Democratic governor, it provides no information that would allow readers to assess the truth of the claim that spending is out of control. In fact, state and local government spending in Minnesota has not been rising relative to its GDP over the last decade. (Sorry, I couldn’t quickly find state spending broken out separately.)
Source: USgovernmentspending.com.
As the chart clearly shows, there is no upward trend in spending relative to state GDP since the early 90s and in fact current spending levels are somewhat lower than two decades ago. This means that Mr. Zellers was not being truthful. A good news story would have conveyed this information to readers.
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