I just finished a post about the major distortion (indeed misstatements) in the media about the supposed "impending government shutdown" which is a completely phony issue. I then came across another good example of this sort of misrepresentation in the mainstream media. This time the perpetrator is one of the usual suspects: Gail Collins of the New York Times. Collins wrote a column attacking governor Walker of Wisconsin for imposing policies that resulted in massive layoffs of teachers across Wisconsin. She says in her column that Walker made teachers his principal target and many lost jobs as a result.
That is a pretty strong indictment of a governor. After all, not many politicians want to be labeled anti-education, and being anti-teacher is very close to that.
Collin's claims are taken apart quickly by the Weekly Standard. The main point of the Weekly Standard article (which is well worth reading) is that the layoffs about which Collins complains took place in 2010; Walker only became governor in the following year, 2011. Further, since Walker became governor, the finances of the various school boards improved greatly and that means that the job security of the teachers across Wisconsin also improved greatly. In the last two elections, neither of Walker's Democrat opponents could come up with the name of one school district where teachers lost jobs because of Walker's reforms.
So to put it bluntly, Collins is either an incredibly careless journalist, or she is lying. Remember, however, that the New York Times supposedly has editors who read these pieces before they are published and it also has fact checkers who supposedly make sure that what is written is correct. Indeed, if the column were just a product of careless journalism and negligent editing and fact checking (a rather large indictment of the Times), there should have been a correction issued. Well guess what? There has been no correction. That leaves us with the conclusion that Collins and the Times are just telling lies in an effort to smear Walker.
Don't we all deserve better?
That is a pretty strong indictment of a governor. After all, not many politicians want to be labeled anti-education, and being anti-teacher is very close to that.
Collin's claims are taken apart quickly by the Weekly Standard. The main point of the Weekly Standard article (which is well worth reading) is that the layoffs about which Collins complains took place in 2010; Walker only became governor in the following year, 2011. Further, since Walker became governor, the finances of the various school boards improved greatly and that means that the job security of the teachers across Wisconsin also improved greatly. In the last two elections, neither of Walker's Democrat opponents could come up with the name of one school district where teachers lost jobs because of Walker's reforms.
So to put it bluntly, Collins is either an incredibly careless journalist, or she is lying. Remember, however, that the New York Times supposedly has editors who read these pieces before they are published and it also has fact checkers who supposedly make sure that what is written is correct. Indeed, if the column were just a product of careless journalism and negligent editing and fact checking (a rather large indictment of the Times), there should have been a correction issued. Well guess what? There has been no correction. That leaves us with the conclusion that Collins and the Times are just telling lies in an effort to smear Walker.
Don't we all deserve better?
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