"What if a president cut Americans’ income taxes by $116 billion and nobody noticed? It is not a rhetorical question. " This is the strong lede in a story about the tax cut hidden in the stimulus package. We are told that the Obama administration intended this piece of the legislation fly under the radar, so that the additional cash would be spent and not saved in order to help to stimulate the economy. But no where in the article is a key piece of information. What was the news media's culpability in this? Why were so few Americans unaware of the reduction in their withholding?
hi molly: saw this article as well. (also got picked up by NPR). for sure an opportunity was missed. the (silent) tax cut also got drowned in the flurry of increased state taxes and health insurance premiums. paul got paid but was robbed by peter. some are condemning the dems for not selling the cuts better. but i think the real issue falls short of that. complicated issues don't fit into easy to digest bits of soundbite. the republicans also seem more able to spin issues in the guise of their partisanship. it's tough out there!
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteFor me, this discussion could go down two tracks:
1. Mr. Obama's communicators, who tend to be more Chicago-based than Washington-insider-based.
2. The horrible downsizing of newsrooms across the country.
The second track is terribly concerning because fewer reporters are being asked to take on an increased assignment load.
This tends to result in reporters having some beats they aren't well-acquainted with and simply not having time to run down all the compelling stories out there. In addition, there's a tendency for assignment editors to want "follow" stories. Which take time away from any "new" stories.
I'm not trying to be an apologist for the press, here. What Molly pointed out is a huge oversight. But still, I can't help feeling that there's a whole lot more of this coming as newsrooms shrink.
hi nancy: i agree. and probably editors are a bit loath to take these stories on because they are complicated and nuanced - always a tough sell. given the shrinking resources you mentioned and the prediliction to be a headline grabber, i too fear that non-soundbite stories will get less and less play.
ReplyDeleteI attribute it to "lazy journalism". In my opinion, our news media has become more lazy and complacent over the last decade. Whoever screams the loudest gets covered because then the journalists don't have to work harder to go find the stories themselves. It's unfortunate. Thanks for sharing the article, glad somebody finally reported it.
ReplyDelete