GOODY TWO SHOES: What Passes For “News” These Days: Part IV
Former USA Today White House correspondent Richard Benedetto observes that anyone advocating spending cuts will find the MSM to be “their most formidable foe” in this op-ed:
[N]ow that we know the targets of the cuts, the news media, suckers for a sob story, are already throbbing with carefully orchestrated, heart-rending tales about what devastation those cuts will cause:
Children who won't be fed; students unable to afford college; classrooms bursting at the seams; cancers that will not be treated; trains that won't run; roads that won't be built; families becoming homeless or freezing in their unheated homes; single mothers who will lose child care and job training; food that will not be inspected; water and air that will be more polluted; farmers who will be forced from their land; playgrounds, parks, museums, libraries and health clinics that will be closed.
You know the drill. …
Over the next several days and weeks, more and more stories on the hardships budget cuts would cause will become a staple of news reporting, making it even more difficult for budget cutters to stand up against the pressure. The steady thump of emotional media reports of people who will be hurt makes cutters seem callous and mean if they follow through.
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