Fair and balanced? What's good for the goose, good for the gander?
Since Rep. Susan Almy's so-dubbed "tax summit" was this past week, of course I have tried to read any and all accounts of the event (again, Grant over at NH Watchdog did a simply SUPERB job of covering it!). Since I have often taken the J-class (similar to the "political class") to task for its liberal biases, I thought that I would point it out in this small slice of journalism:
Laurel Redden, vice president of the Granite State Fair Tax Coalition, noted residents in 83 towns have approved petitions that urge policymakers to explore difference system than over-reliance on the local property tax.
“We are trying to shift the conversation from knee-jerk ‘no new taxes’ or ‘we don’t need any new taxes’ to ... having a thoughtful dialogue on how they would work,” Redden said during an interview.
But Kevin Smith with the fiscally and socially conservative Cornerstone Policy Research said those opposing new taxes should realize that this is not some academic, think-tank discussion.
“This summit should come as no surprise,” said Smith, a one-time aide to former Republican Gov. Craig Benson. Democrats have actually been “laying the groundwork for an income tax” from the moment they took control of the State House three years ago, he said.
I have no problem with Kevin Landrigan describing Kevin Smith as a "fiscally and socially conservative"; he is and I believe that he would also agree with it.
What I do have a problem with is not describing Laurel Redden as the liberal Progressive she is, and her group (whom I have called out before by not being completely honest by ONLY mentioning property taxes and NOT all the other taxes that we DON'T have) having Lefty / liberal backers, both individuals and groups, for her group. The way that Landrigan wrote it gives the appearance that the Redden & GSFTC are neutral in their outlook and therefore, acceptable.
If you call out one group as belonging to one end of the political spectrum, be balanced and call out the other group as being at the other end of that same spectrum. Not doing so either shows your editor to be a tightwad on word count or it shows where the reporter world view sits so as to make one group or another, well, acceptable and mainstream.
...as if the 'Grok's world view can't be divined by our words....but then again, we make no claim to being part of the formal, school based, J-class; we're just two ordinary schlubs in central NH that have lots of opinions.
