May the session (and Robison's news editorializing) begin
Here's a snippet from his (and R.G. Ratcliffe's) dispatch at the opening of the session:
The Texas Public Policy Foundation said Strayhorn's revenue estimate proved lawmakers in 2003 did the right thing by cutting the budget rather than raising taxes.
But the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which advocates for the poor, said lawmakers now are facing a budget that will require billions of new dollars to maintain current services and to restore cuts made in 2003 in programs for the poor.
If a journalist is going to add a description to one group, then the journalist needs to add the description to another group.
And the descriptions needs to be descriptive rather than normative.
A more accurate description of the Center for Public Policy Priorities would be, "which advocates for greater spending on entitlements and welfare programs."
A description of the Texas Public Policy Foundation would be, "which advocates for lower taxes and lower spending by state government."
It's the newspaper's call whether to include such descriptions at all, since some editors might assume readers aren't idiots and can figure this out for themselves. But if the Chronicle is going to include them, then it should be consistent in doing so.
And the newspaper should certainly drop that inane "advocates for the poor" description, since even the most extreme minimal-state libertarians and conservatives do not actively advocate against the poor.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 01/11/05 10:34 PM | Houston Chronicle | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (1)
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