November 19, 2013
OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration (for now, but hopefully not for long). We here at CEPR can’t help but celebrate the fact that the public editor of the New York Times has come out in favor of changing the way the NYT reports on the budget: Last month, Margaret Sullivan addressed the issue in a long piece on the NYT’s public editor blog that linked to one of CEPR Co-director Dean Baker’s op-eds and included a quote from Washington Bureau Chief David Leonhardt acknowledging Dean’s contribution to the change.
Why does this matter? Because as Dean writes:
“Telling readers that the government will spend $195 billion on transportation over the next six years is telling most readers nothing. They have no idea how large $195 billion is to the federal government over the next six years. On the other hand, if the paper reported that this amount is 0.78 percent of projected spending over this period, most people would understand the significance of this item to the budget and their tax bill.”
This is a real victory for CEPR. We have pushed hard for the press to put budget numbers in context, from op-eds to articles to blog posts to CEPR’s, Responsible Budget Reporting calculator, a handy tool that converts federal budget numbers into per capita or percentage of totals with just a click of a mouse.
Of course, we had a little help from our friends…allies like Media Matters and Bob Naiman of Just Foreign Policy who started a petition at MoveOn.org to Margaret Sullivan demanding that the NYT adopt the “Baker Standard” for budget reporting.
This is how CEPR works. We produce volumes of solid economic research. We write papers and op-eds and blog posts and articles and issue briefs. We write press releases and have long talks with reporters. We join coalitions and help our advocacy partners by arming them with the facts behind their calls for action. We explain complex economic principles in ways that people can understand what is at stake in policy debates. We tell the truth without the spin.
And while we savor this small but important victory, we know that there is much more work to do. We are asking for your help. We want the above headlines to come true. We want to make sure that Social Security and Medicare are protected, we want more stimulus and less unemployment and we want to stop the upward distribution of income that has caused so many people so much pain. That’s just for starters…
So please give what you can. Thanks to all of you who are already CEPR supporters – your gifts have helped us to achieve this victory. Together we can achieve much more.
Dean, Mark and CEPR staff
