How bad is WH reporting?
April 21, 2009 10:49 am ET by Eric Boehlert
Let Sheryl Gay Stolberg at the New York Times provide today's answer. (Hint: It's really bad):
On the theory that every little bit helps, Mr. Obama convened the first cabinet meeting of his presidency on Monday and said that in an effort to make the government “as efficient as possible” and to ensure that “every taxpayer dollar is being spent wisely,” he was challenging department heads and agency chiefs to come up with ways to save $100 million over the next 90 days.
Budget analysts promptly burst out laughing. A reporter declared at the White House briefing that the initiative would become fodder for late-night talk show hosts. The Republican Study Committee, a group of fiscal conservatives, put out a news release with the headline “Obama’s 0.0025% spending cut.”
The key is that second paragraph, so let's walk through it and see how dreadful the journalism is being produced at the WH.
A) You'll note Stolberg used the plural in her reporting, claiming "analysts" were "laughing" at the Obama plan. Yet Stolberg only quoted one analyst in the entire article and that analyst is a conservative from the hyper-partisan Heritage Foundation. So to be accurate, Stolberg should have reported, "A Republican budget analyst" promptly burst out laughing. (Even though there's no evidence he did.) Instead of doing that, Stolberg just made stuff up about lots of analysts ridiculing the Obama plan.
B) Who cares if a WH reporter predicted late-night comedians might make fun of the initiative? I mean that literally; who cares? And on what planet would that kind of pointless WH press room chatter possibly qualify as news? Just amazing.
C) The GOP press release gives away the whole story. i.e. Odds are it was their mocking press release that set in motion the WH press chatter about the $100 million initiative (all the cool kids in the press room thought it was lame), which then lead to Stolberg making stuff up about "analysts" laughing at Obama and turning that into her belittling lead.
Behold your liberal media.
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OK miss stolberg, did it ever occur to you to ask WHY the President was asking his Department heads to find $100 million from their budgets over the next 90 days, and then ask WHAT the President would do with that money?
No, you didn't think to ask those questions, did you.
Well, I happen to have inside information from the White House, that all that money was going to be used in a surprise announcement by the President, to bail out The New York Times!
That's right! The President was trying to find that money in those budgets, so he could save The New York Times, and in the process save also your job miss smart-alec!
But guess what? You being all smart and critical of the President finding that money in the budget, well now he's not going to give it to The New York Times, you ingrate!
Instead he's going to give half the money to found an Internet Wire website, to report news to the American People, faster and more accessible and more honest than you or The New York Times could or would ever do!
And without the smart-alec extra-curricular commentary either!
So there, that money won't go to floating the sinking New York Times, you ingrate!
Half of it'll go instead to the Internet Wire, to sink you and your smart-alec comments even quicker, and put you out of a job and on the streets much sooner...
So there!
The other half will go to David Barstow, because he's only a million times better than sheryl gay-stolberg, and he performs the Public Service of Journalism, which stolberg does not.
This is idiotic.
Both the MSM and GOP just do not have the mental capacity nor the desire to research and understanding budgeting.
You cannot compare across-the-board expenditure cuts to the size of SPENDING in a long-term budget.
There is actual quantifiable benefit and return on the investments in the budget. This is known as ROI or cost/benefit analysis planning.
That is completely different than asking agencies to cut COSTS and EXPENSES immediately.
It is MORONIC to say that cutting expenses does nothing to affect the deficit. It is NOT intended to.
Both the MSM & GOP are not capable of understanding this.
Sadly, we will see only more of this -- a result of newspapers death spiral, as better reporters are replaced by cheaper ones.
Spending cuts don't do jack to balance the budget, unless it's defense. Raise taxes on the rich instead.
I was just wanting to hang out in a liberal environment. But thanks to your efforts, the truth has found a way to reach me.