The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Washington Post tackles regressive tariffs; CNN’s Serwer pulls a 180 on housing forecast; Post calls tax cuts ‘cost’ to government.

Dec. 14, 2005

     The Washington Post’s Paul Blustein marches into the good column with a look at the negative impact of tariffs, while CNN’s Andy Serwer changed his tune on the housing market faster than Vanna White changes evening gowns. And Jonathan Weisman trots into third place with an article bemoaning the “cost” to government from taxpayers keeping more of their money.

The Good
     The Washington Post is not usually critical of the cost of taxes to consumers or third parties adversely affected by them, unless they are cut, in which case it “costs” the government (see The Ugly item below). Staff Writer Paul Blustein, however, in his December 11 article, “The Tariff Mismatch,” broke the mold a bit by shedding light on the diplomatic and political struggles to lower remaining trade barriers and tariffs designed to shield inefficient industries from foreign competition.

The Bad
     CNN’s Andy Serwer gets a lump of coal in his stocking for the second week in a row for his reporting on “American Morning,” and for behavior remarkably similar to what put him on the naughty list last week. Within a span of two minutes on the December 8 broadcast, the Fortune magazine editor retracted his warnings about the housing bubble bursting to say the housing market was simply ratcheting down a bit from “a frenzied pace.”

The Ugly
     The Washington Post's Jonathan Weisman woke up readers of the December 8 paper with partisan language on recently passed tax cuts and a flawed study which argued dividend tax cuts have not helped spur the stock market’s rebound. But Weisman focused exclusively on a study centered on the time before and shortly after President Bush announced dividend tax cuts, ignoring the market’s rapid $4 trillion growth in value since 2003, when dividend cuts took effect.

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.