Today CNNMoney.com senior writer Jeanne Sahadi gave what on the surface appears to be a fair and balanced analysis of the competing tax plans being floated by Sen. Obama and Sen. McCain. You can view it here:
However, whether she knows it or not, Sahadi gives the reader a slanted view of the two proposals and of economic theory in general, by citing quotes and findings from The Tax Policy Center as pad for her article.
Two minutes of research is all that is required to discover that The Tax Policy Institute is little more than an arm of the Brookings Institution, a left of center think tank in Washington DC.
Now I'm not sure if Ms. Sahadi has the number of The Heritage Foundation in her Rolodex, but I'm guessing that someone from that think tank would have made a decent counterweight to what comes across as a fairly one-sided view of the effects of taxation and tax cuts, including quotes from Tax Policy Center director, Clinton appointee and tax increase advocate Len Burman.
As a young journalist, struggling to find work it's upsetting to me that someone who is employed by such a high profile news organization can get away with this kind of biased reporting.
This stuff isn't obvious upon reading the article, but it's exactly this type of sneaky journalism that has given much of the media its liberal reputation over the last 30 years.
Sahadi needs to learn that just because an organization is billed as "non-partisan" doesn't mean that it's not pushing a political agenda.
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12 comments:
Excellent post. This goes right to the heart of the problem with the mainstream media. The hidden biases are insidiously passed along to the consumer as news and find their way into the public's perception of reality.
Mainstream media are shallow, superficial, a sure recipe for bias.
BA
Once again, a loud mouth, paid-political prostitute of Reich-wing attacks the source without providing ANY sort of concrete counter point. Aren't we all getting a bit old for these rehearsed, late-evening antics? Yet you bitch and moan about this particular segment being "bias?" This pablum of drivel only serves as a gratuitous accusation to an unfounded allegation. Since some of the quotes were excerpt from an institution with a "center to left" predilection, then it must be obviously discarded. The author does not even bother to vet the research papers and considers, perhaps, citing the source as a worthy reason for further scolding.
If the point of your entry is to claim there was no counter balancing view, then may I ask how come your blog does not address the one-sided garbage being spewed on the conservative radio talk shows, Fox News, and other media affiliates? Or perhaps in your school of "journalism," being overly "opinionated" on issues counts as being equipped with clarion of rectitude. Please, do indulge us, point by point, what part of her report was flawed? Maybe we will learn something today...
This post would have been valid if you took the time to show the difference from what she was saying to what is true. Just lambasting a journalist for giving out false information does little to prove your point.
I agree with Cat. If you're going to make an accusation regarding bias, make specific references to points in her article that show her "one-sided" reporting.
Whay Sahadi also failed to point out in her column is that McCain porposes to make the Bush yax cuts PERMANENT. We haven't heard any such thing from the Obama camp; quite the contrary, in fact.
I could not agree more. I read Sahadi piece and was so angry. No mention of "middle-class" or "top 2%" at all! It treats differences among income earners as irrelevant and acts like there is no such thing as progressive income tax.
I was researching the tax policies and came across the CNN article and your blog. I would be interested in your journalistic rebuttal to the article. What facts were stated or represented incorrectly? The tax policy center was the founded by Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton under the Bush Jr. administration. The joint venture of The Urban Institute & Brookings Institution funds the operations but the acting Director is Gale, a former Bush Sr adviser and Burman is a co-director. The staff and board are largely made up of staff from all previous mentioned administrations and they serve as consultants with domain expertise combined with government operations experience. The tax center has a pretty good reputation in D.C. as a credible bipartisan organization which makes the recent tax report all that much more interesting. Hence the discussion of it on every talking head on both radio and TV as well as the blogosphere. I am very serious when I say I am interested in reading any substance you have that discredits the tax center or disproves statements made in the CNN article.
but the current director and board members are staffed with former senior staff advisers to Reagan and Bush Sr whose reputation as economist and scientists are impeccable and highly respected. is actually the director and Burman is a co-director. Please show some actual journalism skill and demonstrate with examples of the agenda driven analysis of the tax center.
Shahadi - Obama. Wake up America and smell the roses. What is it going to take...
I read her article and found it biased on the right of center. The statistics she gave failed to show the regressive side of the tax system, the social security tax. Why isn't social security tax a federal tax. How about federal Medicaid Tax It also failed to show that (Federal) Effective Tax Rates (ETR) are substantially much more balanced. Then add in State income tax and Sales tax and you would find that everyone pays about the same percentage of their income as taxes.
The first article I read by Jeanne Sahadi on money.cnn.com made me roll my eyes because of its blatant attempt to be left leaning while sounding financially savy. I couldn't tell you the article. But when I read it, I thought, "Wow, your average working everyman would really eat this up." I now can spot her headlines on money.cnn.com without reading her articles because they always seem to defy the conventional wisdom of the money.cnn.com audience. ...Assuming that audience consists of readers who have actual investments or own a business and is not looking to Suzy Orman to help them live debt free.
Having just read another obviously left leaning article by Jeanne Sahadi, "What happens if Congress blows the debt ceiling", I did a search on her to find her email address and ran across this link revealing even more of her liberal/socialist propaganda. She is nothing but yet another CNN minion that claims to be balanced.
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