#WaHoPo reduced to letting lobbyists write its "news stories"
5321 Dead, 454 since 1/20/09
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3991
Action Alert
Washington Post Lets Lobbyists Write Its Stories
Anti-Social Security outfit does propaganda, not journalism
1/6/10
The Washington Post's publication of a "news" article written by an
organization created to advance an ideological agenda is a troubling
reminder of the declining ethical standards at one of the nation's
most influential newspapers.
The article, headlined "Support Grows for Tackling Nation's Debt"
(12/31/09), was a product of the Fiscal Times, described in an
accompanying note as "an independent digital news publication
reporting on fiscal, budgetary, healthcare and international economics
issues." More accurately, it's a propaganda outlet created and funded
by Peter G. Peterson, a Wall Street billionaire and Nixon
administration cabinet member who has long used his wealth to promote
cuts in Social Security and other entitlement programs (Extra!,
3-4/97; Nation.com, 1/4/10).
Peterson has advanced this agenda by launching groups like the Concord
Coalition and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation; he's also funded media
projects like the public television show World Focus (FAIR Action
Alert, 2/10/09) and the deceptive documentary IOUSA (CEPR, 10/8),
which aired on CNN.
Now Peterson has a new vehicle, the Fiscal Times, which he describes
(PR Newswire, 12/17/09) as "a new entity whose time has come, an
independently supported publication comprised of top journalists and
opinion makers covering the critical economic issues of our time." The
Fiscal Times' initial news release said Peterson "helped found the
publication and will provide its initial funding"; editor-in-chief
Jackie Leo (formerly of Reader's Digest) said she aimed to make it
"the most trusted news source for unbiased journalism covering
government policy and economic issues."
Based on the Fiscal Times' first offering in the Post, though, what it
actually offers is a bias that's widely shared by corporate media
outlets. The piece, by Elaine S. Povich and Eric Pianin, takes it as a
given that the "tough decisions that will be required to dig the
nation out of debt" include "painful spending cuts and tax
increases"--and when they say "spending cuts," they're talking about
the "skyrocketing spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,"
not the $663 billion military budget. (See Guardian, 1/4/10, for Dean
Baker's debunking of the piece's Petersonian economics.)
Of course, this kind of deficit-mongering is par for the course in
outlets like the Post (Extra!, 9/09). But it's doubtful that the Post
on its own would have made controversial claims about powerful
politicians--like the assertion that "President Obama has voiced
support" for an entitlement-slashing commission, or that House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi "has signaled in recent weeks that she could accept the
establishment" of such a panel--without offering any substantiation
(Fire Dog Lake, 1/5/10).
And it's remarkable that no one at the Post objected when a news
outlet funded by Peterson managed to plug two of its benefactor's
other ideological projects--the Concord Coalition and the Peterson-Pew
Commission on Budget Reform--without noting the financial connection.
(The Post ran a correction noting that it should have noted the tie to
Concord, but didn't say anything about Peterson-Pew.) Completely
missing from the piece was any balance to the Peterson-approved
perspective, save an analyst from the AARP, misleadingly cited to
suggest that "critics" objected to a deficit commission because it
wouldn't be strong enough when "the choices are so hard--and getting
harder."
Far from "unbiased journalism," the Fiscal Times article reads like
the smoothly written propaganda you'd expect to get from a well-funded
lobbying outlet. The Post's "partnership" with this outfit is an
ill-advised experiment that ought to be brought to a swift conclusion.
ACTION:
Please ask Washington Post ombud Andy Alexander to recommend that the
paper terminate its relationship with the ideologically motivated
Fiscal Times.
CONTACT:
Andy Alexander, Washington Post Ombud
202-334-7582
ombu...@washpost.com
See FAIR's extensive archives on the anti-Social Security bias of
corporate media.