The Post's Russia Standard Is Very Different from Its U.S. Standard

September 24, 2011

An article on Russia’s economy reported on a speech by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin:

“He talked about ‘bitter pills’ of economic retrenchment. He said wages had outstripped productivity, threatening inflation.”

It then added a parenthetical sentence:

“That’s largely because of government policies.”

This is a sharp departure from the practice in reporting on U.S. and European economic problems. For example, when reporting on speeches or actions by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke to counteract the downturn, the Post never points out that the inaction by Mr. Bernanke and other member of the Fed board to stem the growth of the housing bubble is primarily responsible for the downturn.

The same is the case with comments or action by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet. The Post never points out that his single-minded obsession with a 2.0 percent inflation target, while ignoring the growth of enormous housing bubbles in Ireland, Spain and elsewhere in the euro zone, is responsible for the euro-zone’s economic and financial problems.

The Post also never tells readers that all the deficit hawks who it features prominently in both its news and opinion pages were obsessing on the deficit in 2005-2007, even when budget deficits were relatively modest. Their deficit obsession helped to crowd out any public discussion of the housing bubble. The collapse of the bubble both crashed the economy and sent deficits soaring. Yet, the post never includes a parenthetical comment along with quotes from Alice Rivlin, Erskine Bowles or any other prominent deficit hawk pointing out that the current deficits are largely the result of the deficit hawks’ dominance of public debate in the pre-crisis period.

In short, it is interesting that the Post felt the need to tell readers that Mr. Putin is largely responsible for the problem that he is complaining about. It does not generally follow this practice.

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