So a funny thing happened on the way to New York Times' top editor Bill Keller's impassionad defense of traditional journalism as practiced by his newspaper.
This is what he wrote in the middle of the story:
The first is that we believe in verification rather than assertion. We put a higher premium on accuracy than on speed or sensation. When we report information, we look hard to see if it stands up to scrutiny. We put our faith in the expensive and sometimes perilous business of witness.
This appears at the end:
Correction: March 27, 2011
An earlier version of this article stated that James O'Keefe posed as a potential donor to National Public Radio, which is not the case. O'Keefe arranged the videotaped sting, but it was two of his associates who pretended to be the donors.
Well, that's embarassing -- but then, stuff happens. The truth is, if you're a journalist who hasn't made a mistake or two, you're probably not doing enough journalism. Here's the thing that's much, much more embarassing about Keller's piece, which is that after everything that traditional journalism screwed up over the last decade -- from totally getting wrong a year's worth of coverage leading up to the misguided tragedy of the Iraq War, to flubbing the semantics of torture, to missing other big stories including a financial bubble that was bound to blow up in America's face -- Keller still just doesn't get it.
Keller believes -- as do I, and I would imagine most everyone who works at a traditional media outlet -- that journalism's main job is to give readers the truth. But he also believes that an empirical notion of "balance" is an essential elemen of finding that truth, when the reality of the last 10 years has shown us that the only way to get to the actual facts is to toss "on one hand, on the other hand" and the fear of offending one side out the window.
I cringed reading this passage:
So there is a corollary to this first precept: when we get it wrong, we correct ourselves as quickly and forthrightly as possible. Connoisseurs of penitence find The Times a bottomless source of amusement. (An actual correction: “An article in The Times Magazine last Sunday about Ivana Trump and her spending habits misstated the number of bras she buys. It is two dozen black, two dozen beige and two dozen white, not two thousand of each.”)
At the other end of the culpability scale, I’ve had a few occasions to write mea culpas after we let down our readers in more important ways — including for some reporting before the war in Iraq that should have dug deeper and been more skeptical about the supposed weapons of mass destruction.
Yes, yes, Keller does qualify that this whole Iraq thing was "more important," but it's telling that Ivana Trump's bras get more words, isn't it? This isn't really that big a surprise in 2011, but there's no real sense of the overwhelming gravity of that Iraq failure, of why it happened or that fact that will never know if a useless war -- in which tens of thousands of people died -- could have been avoided by a "more skeptical" U.S. media.
Keller wrote in the passage above that the Times "put[s] our faith in the expensive and sometimes perilous business of witness." But in the end, all the time and money that the Times and its journalists spent on bearing "witness" by getting close access to the the powerful in the spin rooms of the Bush White House or later in the deserts of Iraq didn't jibe with his other stated goal of "verification" -- the less glamorous and access-risking job of actually fact-checking their powerful sources/friends. Keller's paper's coverage of the search for "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq consisted of embedding a reporter, Judith Miller, with a military unit who then published works of fiction on the front page of the Times.
Here's what one critic noted back in 2004:
Some critics of our coverage during that time have focused blame on individual reporters. Our examination, however, indicates that the problem was more complicated. Editors at several levels who should have been challenging reporters and pressing for more skepticism were perhaps too intent on rushing scoops into the paper. Accounts of Iraqi defectors were not always weighed against their strong desire to have Saddam Hussein ousted. Articles based on dire claims about Iraq tended to get prominent display, while follow-up articles that called the original ones into question were sometimes buried. In some cases, there was no follow-up at all.
That's what happened in the real world, not in the idealized "slow verification" world of Keller's column on Sunday. You would think Keller wouid recognize this -- he was the author of the above passage. But seven years later, he doesn't see the Iraq debacle as endemic to the massive flaws in mainstream journalism -- fear of offending the powerful and losing access, or challenging the zeitgeist, which in 2002-03 was a rush to war -- but as another one of those mistakes like Ivana's bras, just a little "more serious."
The truth is that -- while the Times and its journalists often do outstanding journalism (here's one recent example, of many) -- the paper under Keller is still too often guilty of failing to label the truth for what it is, for fear of taking sides. An example? Practices that the Times routinely describes as torture when it takes place in other nations is called something else when it's carried out by Americans. (Keller's unbelievably lame explanation of that: "“When using a word amounts to taking sides in a political dispute, our general practice is to supply the readers with the information to decide for themselves.”)
This matters for a lot of reasons. It matters, for one thing, because we need the Times and other media outlets with such a powerful megaphone to display the kind of skepticism toward a Democratic president's war in Libya as it should have -- but didn't -- toward a Republican president's war in Iraq. It also matters because there are people out there trying to rewrite history -- I'm talking about Fox News, who else? -- and claim that the media was actually highly critical of Bush's rush to war. We should never forget the truth. But even worse is knowing the truth --as Keller clearly did, based on what he wrote seven years ago -- and failing to grasp its significance or really learn anything from it. Which is why the fight for real media reform is a neverending battle.
- It appears that any publication that aims to tell the truth and work hard to find out what the truth is will be labeled as liberal or even left wing, when in fact the labels "left" and as we use it in today's US "liberal" refer to a set of beliefs. I agree that the Times and most other media were completely bamboozled by the Bush Administration on Iraq, and I have never understood how that happened, when it was apparent to me, with no access to anything but TV, the Times, and a few magazines like the New Yorker (and maybe some Internet news, but probably not 8 years ago), it was apparent to me that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11 or al Queda and that it was unlikely that he had WMDs. Even Robert Novak said, more than once, on the Capitol Gang that Saddam did not have WMDs, although supposedly liberal Al Hunt was convinced (not sure why) that they were there. It was a massive failure of the mainstream media--but today the folks who distrust the mainstream media, such as Sarah Palin, are on the right, although the problem was not getting the facts right, and getting the facts right is viewed as liberal.— Archimedes
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- --snip--
WASHINGTON — In his new budget proposal, Ohio Republican Gov. John Kasich calls for extending a generous 21 percent cut in state income taxes. The measure was originally part of a sweeping 2005 tax overhaul that abolished the state corporate income tax and phased out a business property tax.
The tax cuts were supposed to stimulate Ohio's economy and create jobs. But that never happened once the economy tanked. Instead, the changes ended up costing Ohio more than $2 billion a year in lost tax revenue; money that would go a long way toward closing the state's $8 billion budget gap for fiscal year 2012.
[...]
here's no question that mammoth state budget problems resulted largely from falling tax revenues, rising costs and greater demand for state services during the recession. But questionable tax reductions at the state and local level made the budget gaps larger — and resulting spending cuts deeper — than they otherwise would have been in many states.
A 2008 study by Arizona State University found that that state's structural deficits could be traced to 15 years of tax cuts, mainly income-tax reductions that "were not matched by spending cuts of a commensurate size."
In Texas, which faces a $27 billion budget deficit over the next two years, about one-third of the shortage stems from a 2006 property tax reduction that was linked to an underperforming business tax.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/03/28/111161/states-broke-maybe-they-cut-taxes.html#ixzz1HxFY9adU— Talking point sleuth - I'm having a lot of difficulty relating what you said in your post to Will's topic, TPS... I can start posting March Madness scores and about the inequality of attention given to the women's basketball game if you would like... — IggleFan68
- I loved in Ohio for a while recently, and I can tell you one thing for certain, property taxes went up, not down. On average, about 15% in just two years.
- ...con't.....
In Louisiana, lawmakers essentially passed the largest tax cut in state history by rolling back an income-tax hike for high earners in 2007 and again in 2008.
Without those tax reductions, Louisiana wouldn't have had a budget deficit in fiscal year 2010, the 2011 deficit would've been 50 percent less and the 2012 deficit of $1.6 billion would be reduced by about one-third, said Edward Ashworth, the director of the Louisiana Budget Project, a watchdog group.
These and similar budget problems nationwide are symptoms of a larger condition, said Timothy J. Bartik, senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich.
"If state and local taxes were at the same percentage of state personal income as they were 40 years ago, you wouldn't have all these budgetary problems," Bartik said.
Before California's Proposition 13 triggered a nationwide tax-cut revolt in the late 1970s, state and local taxes accounted for nearly 13 percent of personal income in 1972, Bartik said. By 2007, it was 11 percent.
State corporate income taxes have fallen as well. Once nearly 10 percent of all state tax revenue in the late '70s, they accounted for only 5.4 percent in 2010.
"It's a dying tax, killed off by thousands of credits, deductions, abatements and incentive packages," according to 2010 congressional testimony by Joseph Henchman, the director of state projects at the Tax Foundation, a conservative tax-research center.
— Talking point sleuth - --Snip--
02/19/2009
The California Legislature passed a long-awaited budget early Thursday after an epic battle that involved several all-night sessions, sending the governor a bill that raises taxes and cuts spending to help close a $42 billion deficit…
Senate Minority Leader Dennis Hollingsworth warned the crippling effects of passing the state’s LARGEST TAX INCREASE IN CALIFORNIA'S HISTORY ($12B) "You may count this as a win because you got a few Republicans to vote for it," he said. "The taxpayers of California are going to view this as a loss."
Obama assured us that the “Recovery Plan” will prevent state and governments from RAISING TAXES... "TAX RELIEF" –" includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy." This will prevent "state and local cuts to health and education programs and state and local tax increases"...
--snip--
*NOTE* In 2009, CA got both historic cuts to services and historic tax increases. Now FF to 2011...
--snip--
Mar 2, 2011
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Costa Mesa is facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, and that means lots of layoffs and outsourcing...
2011
The Moreno Valley City Council will take its first look tonight ...to plug a $14 million hole in the fiscal 2011-12 budget.
Mar. 25, 2011
Anaheim, where... the city's budget deficit is $10 million...
--snip--
Today, CA still faces a $26B deficit and many cities are essentially bankrupt. The "Recovery Act" was a failure. Historic tax increases were a failure. Statism is a failure.
- Even now, as states struggle to provide basic services and ponder job cuts that threaten their economic recovery, at least seven governors in states with budget deficits have called for or enacted large tax reductions, mainly for businesses.
Five are newly elected Republicans in Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Jersey and Wisconsin. The others are Republican Jan Brewer of Arizona and Democrat Beverly Perdue of North Carolina.
Their willingness to forgo needed tax revenue is hard to fathom, as states face a collective $125 billion budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year, said Jon Shure, the deputy director of the State Fiscal Project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a respected liberal research institute in Washington.
"To be cutting taxes when you're short of revenue is like saying you could run faster if you cut off your foot," Shure said.
"States have suffered an unprecedented collapse in revenue, and they are at the bottom of a deep hole looking up, and these governors are saying, 'You need a ladder to climb out, but I'm going to give you a shovel instead, so you can dig the hole deeper.' "
Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge said the governors were simply trying to improve their states' business climates by lowering the tax burden.
"They're trying to increase their market share and their attractiveness to business," Hodge said. "And also, more importantly, they're trying to prevent the attrition of business and investment to other states" that have lower tax rates.
— Talking point sleuth - ...con't...
Republican lawmakers and pro-business groups have long maintained that tax cuts help stimulate economic activity, while keeping businesses and wealthy individuals from leaving the state for lower taxes elsewhere. They also argue that business and personal spending increases after tax reductions, broadening the base to be taxed at the lower rate, which partly offsets the lost tax revenue.
So calls to balance lean state budgets through spending cuts as well as modest, revenue-boosting tax hikes haven't resonated with Republican governors, who see tax relief as the key to reversing job losses in the Great Recession.
"Raising Ohio's taxes even higher won't bring those jobs back. Reducing costs so we can start reducing taxes is the key to our revival," said Rob Nichols, Kasich's press secretary. Extending the state's personal income-tax cut will cost $800 million over two years.
Business tax reductions may be overrated as an economic stimulus because they're so low on the totem pole of expenses. For most businesses, the cost of labor is probably 15 times the cost of all state and local taxes, said Bartik of the Upjohn Institute.
In his own research, Bartik found that a 10 percent across-the-board cut in state and local business taxes might boost employment by 2 percent, but it could take up to 20 years.
"Most studies indicate you might get 30 percent of the effect after five years and maybe 60 percent after 10 years," Bartik said. "It takes a while because investment decisions are quite lagged and take place gradually."— Talking point sleuth - ...con't...
Compounding Ohio's budget woes are 128 state tax exemptions, credits and deductions that drain more than $7 billion a year in would-be revenue. These loopholes make Ohio miss out on one of every four dollars it would otherwise collect in taxes, said Schiller of Policy Matters Ohio.
In Missouri, business and individual tax credits cost the state $521.5 million in fiscal year 2010, compared with $103 million in 1998, according to a state report.
Louisiana's 441 individual and corporate tax breaks cost the state $7.1 billion last year. That nearly matches the $7.7 billion that all state and local taxes brought in.
Some of the breaks provide sales-tax exemptions on groceries, prescription drugs and residential utilities that saved Louisiana taxpayers $717 million last year. But another allows Louisiana companies to keep 1 percent of the state sales taxes they collect — about $34 million statewide — just for filing their tax returns on time.
Hodge, a conservative, said that closing loopholes and exemptions was less harmful to the economy than tax increases were. The Tax Foundation supports scaling back or closing tax loopholes, while lowering tax rates across the board.
"My argument to state lawmakers is that lower rates for everybody are better than tax incentives for some," Hodge said.
— Talking point sleuth - Despite massive tax increases in CA just two years ago revenues are projected to DECREASE from $90.6B in 2010-11 to $83.5B in 2011-12 - http://www.ebudget.ca.gov/pdf/BudgetSummary/SummaryCharts.pdf
- ...con't...
That incentive-free philosophy was behind Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder's call for a flat 6 percent corporate income tax to replace the current business tax system. But Snyder's flat tax amounts to a $1.5 billion tax cut for businesses, paid for in part by education cuts, personal income tax increases and taxing public and private pensions.
"We think that's the way to rebuild our state, and to get it on a path toward economic prosperity," Snyder's top economic development official, Michael Finney, said during a recent trip to Washington.
History suggests otherwise, however. After the nation recovered from the 1990-91 recession, 43 states made sizable tax cuts from 1994 to 2001 as the economy surged. Twenty-eight states, in fact, reduced their unemployment insurance payroll taxes after 1995.
But states that cut taxes the most ended up with the largest budget shortfalls and higher job losses when the economy slowed again in 2001, according to research by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
To be sure, states have made bad budget decisions on the spending side as well, said Robert Ward, deputy director of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, a state-government research center at the State University of New York at Albany.
Part of the problem is that the public wants everything but doesn't want to pay for anything, Ward said.
"People want something for nothing. They want big increases in education and health care spending. They want good roads. They want lots of parks, and they don't want to pay more taxes," Ward said. "But at the federal, state and local levels, we are hit with the reality that there is no free lunch."
— Talking point sleuth - "People want something for nothing." Dingdingding we have a winner. TPS discovers the flaws of his comrades
— Mr. Smith
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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