Newspaper Ignores Facts, Panders Right-Wing
By
Bradley C. Byers
Two years ago, billionaire Warren Buffett became a minor hero to
Democrats and liberals when he wrote an op ed in the New York Times and told
Charlie Rose on CNBC that the richest people should pay at least as much tax,
as a percentage of income, as his secretary pays.
Using himself as an example, he said that he pays about 14 percent while
some of his small office staff pay as much as 31 percent.
Since that time, Mr. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group has been buying
newspapers in small to medium sized cities. As of March 2013 he had bought 28
papers, and in July he purchased more. He has said he hopes to save those
newspapers, as well as turn a small profit.
In doing so, he brought hope to some
communities. Tulsa, Oklahoma is a good example. Although clearly declining in
size and staff, the 95,000 daily circulation Tulsa World had held to its
reputation of solid reporting and even-handed editorials that tried to lead
readers to a better understanding of national issues than they were getting
from right-wing talk shows and the internet. This, in a state with a solid
tradition of right-wing politics.
Every state-wide and national office in Oklahoma
is held by Republicans. And in the 2012 primary, Tulsans elected a tea party
Republican over a strongly conservative Republican incumbent.
So, many in Tulsa looked to Buffett’s
purchase with hope that it would not mean the imposition of strongly
conservative interpretations into the newspaper’s staff-written editorials.
But that was not to be. Mr. Buffett’s newly appointed publisher
immediately announced that the newspaper would “reflect the views of the
community.” The result became apparent on October 29 when the lead editorial
concluded: “…if the Obama Administration can’t put together a working website
with years of advance notice, what would lead us to conclude they can actually
do anything about health care costs?”
The next day, the editorialist followed
with “The flawed
roll-out of the "Obamacare" exchange system put the administration's
competence in question.”
In a letter to the editor, a long-time
reader challenged the basis of such conclusions. “That’s like saying ‘if an
army cannot advance through a mine field without losing some soldiers, how can
they win a battle?’ Republicans planted mines and fired artillery at every
possible moment to try to stop Obamacare from working.
“Obama planned for the states to set up
the websites, using Federal dollars. But 36 Republican states refused, while challenging
the law in court and trying 43 times to repeal it. So, after waiting for the Supreme
Court to rule, the Administration had the hugely complex job of setting up
websites covering those 36 states, with different insurance companies and
policies in every state.
“As a final effort,” the letter continued,
“Republicans shut down the government in a futile attempt to remove funding for
Obamacare. And now the Tulsa World tells us the resulting start-up problems are
‘proof …that the federal government has no place in this business (of health
care) in the first place.’
“To the editorial writers we used to
respect, RIP. To the owner, Mr. Buffett, and the present staff of editorialists, ‘for
shame.’”
###
Bradley C.
Byers, of Tulsa, is a retired journalist. He writes the blog ByersAware, where
this article will soon appear.
http://byersaware.blogspot.com/2013/10/freedom-to-be-ignorant.html
No comments:
Post a Comment