The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
The Gray Lady pans tax hike in Germany; CBS shades solar energy report; Fox News burns ‘fair and balanced’ motto in ‘The Heat Is On.’

Nov. 16, 2005

     The New York Times wears the white hat this week on a tax issue, albeit one affecting Germany. Meanwhile, CBS News hypes the benefits but not the costs of solar energy. And Fox News makes a rare appearance in the Ugly for suspending “fair and balanced” in a one-sided take on global warming. Sorry, Lou, maybe next week.

The Good
     Last week of all outlets we praised NPR, a news outlet usually less than free market-friendly. This week, The New York Times wins the honor for Mark Landler’s November 16 piece. Landler noted that even though Germans on the whole are stingy consumers who are “saddled with some of the highest taxes” in Europe, the new coalition government in Berlin is proposing to hike the value-added tax (VAT) from 16 to 19 percent in the hope of erasing a budget deficit. Landler noted that a similar tax hike in Japan in 1997 helped to drive that country into recession, and he quoted two economists who disagreed with the tax increase.

The Bad
     “CBS Evening News” last week shined its spotlight on solar energy, but left viewers in the dark about the costs to taxpayers or the heavy capital costs to the consumer. CBS’s Thalia Assuras didn’t mention the thousands a consumer must spend installing solar panels or, more importantly, the $10 billion tab the federal government has run up on solar energy research and subsidies.

The Ugly
     This week's installment is made only the uglier by a marked departure from previous balanced coverage on climate change — Fox’s evening newscast, “Fox Report with Shepard Smith,” was rated the most balanced outlet on global warming coverage by a November 2004 BMI study. But this week’s special, “The Heat Is On,” treated viewers to a steady stream of left-wing activists, Hollywood celebrities, inaccuracies and exaggerations to paint a picture of a global climate apocalypse. For that, Fox News Channel takes the cake this week.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to staff writer Ken Shepherd at kshepherd@mediaresearch.org.