Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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The NYT did some serious editorializing in a headline that told readers:
“[…]to lower drug costs at home, Trump wants higher prices abroad.”
Sorry folks, the NYT does not know what Trump wants. In fact, a reasonable first guess might be that Trump wants to increase the profits of the pharmaceutical industry, with whom he is very close. The NYT would be on sounder footing with a headline saying “To increase pharmaceutical industry profits, Trump wants foreigners to pay more for drugs.” This headline more closely corresponds to the known facts, but we know the paper doesn’t like attributing motives, except of course when it does.
It is worth noting that the headline writer is following the article which told readers in the first paragraph that Trump:
“[…]has an idea that may not be so popular abroad: Bring down costs at home by forcing higher prices in foreign countries that use their national health systems to make drugs more affordable.”
Why is it so hard for reporters to just report what politicians say and do and not try to tell us what they are thinking?