Associated Press, News & Record mislead readers
January 3, 2013 5 Comments
The Associated Press and the (Greensboro) News & Record misled their readers with Wednesday’s front-page, above-the-fold story, the headline of which is “Congress votes to avoid fiscal cliff.” That’s fine, but the subtitle reads as follows: “The president says he’ll sign the bill, approved late Tuesday night, that prevents middle-class tax increases.”
The subtitle is factually incorrect. As I wrote here Tuesday, the fiscal cliff deal increased the payroll tax by 2%, which will cost the Davenport household approximately $1,200 per year. Contrary to the reporting of the AP and the N&R, the president did not prevent a middle-class tax increase.
Progressives squirm with delight at the prospect of punishing the “the rich” (those loathsome, greedy bastards!), but even those of us who barely rank as “middle class” are taking a knee to the groin from our elected representatives, including the president. We can only wonder how many oblivious, duped Obama voters will be shocked upon receipt of their downsized paychecks.
It is not surprising that “journalists” at the AP and the N&R fantasize about the president racing in on a white horse to save the day, but one would think a conscientious, objective editor somewhere along the line (is it possible that one or two remain?) might have said, “Wait a second. There is a tax increase on the middle class. We need to change the subtitle.”
For whatever reason—an oversight, perhaps, or unchecked ideological bias—no one noticed, or bothered to change, the false claim. Did anyone at the N&R actually read the story? Deep into the article, the 20th paragraph informs us of the payroll tax increase, which will, in fact, clobber the middle class.
Many of us will be waiting for the News & Record to run a correction.
Don’t hold your breath Charles *
* I think the world record is about four minutes
If the AP (Administration Press) and Pravda West (the N&R) didn’t lie or distort they would produce only empty pages. Liberalism is a lie.
They probably actually think there IS no tax increase, since they get their “facts” straight from Obama & his ad-minion-istration.
The News and Record has a long history of incompetence, misfeasance, and malfeasance in both News and Editorial functions. Even when they lose or get rid of some of the worst purveyors of those traits, they manage to find new people to take up the bottom feeding habits and ensure the continuation of the inexcusable irresponsibility the paper has long represented.
On the other hand, those conditions are hardly unique in the great majority of what currently supposes itself to be “professional” journalists.
J. Hartgrove,
You are profoundly mistaken on two counts: 1) I did not write the Duke Energy column to which you refer (that was Joe Guarino), and 2) as to the Guardian’s conservative credentials, I doubt very seriously whether there is a more right-wing gathering of scribblers in Guilford County. If you’re looking for a forum that’s more conservative than we are, good luck. You’re going to need it! Anyone who questions our credentials as conservatives obviously is not a routine reader of the Guardian.
That said, your property rights argument is not without merit. Perhaps you should visit us more often.
Cordially,
Charles Davenport Jr.