November 01, 2011
In a “treacherous milestone” for journalism, the Washington Post published a front page story on Oct. 29 about Social Security that contained more falsehoods than fact. Dean Baker at Beat the Press summarized the problems with the story, and he wasn’t the only one to take issue with it. The job of a newspaper is to break down difficult-to-understand issues for readers in a way that presents the many different sides without bias. While the article did include quotes from Social Security supporters such as Harry Reid, there were no quotes from officials or experts who could actually dispute the false premise the story was based on. Readers expect more from one of the top papers in the country, but lately being fair and balanced doesn’t seem to be the Post‘s priority.
