I was reading this article which fact-checks the GOP's claim that Obama's tax plans will increase taxes on most small business owners. It's a pretty good article, laying out the reasons why Eric Cantor is so full of shit on this issue. Though it doesn't use that language, which is understandable.
Toward the end of the article, however, there are two small paragraphs which declare that Obama's claim of a tax cut on "95% of Americans" is wrong. This claim is ascribed to Obama's supporters. They are not named, and no instance is given of anyone actually saying that. The author does quote Obama saying that he's proposing "a middle-class tax cut to 95 percent of hardworking families." The difference between "95% of Americans" and "95% of American families" may or may not be significant. Is it? We don't know, because the author doesn't tell us.
Then the author tells us that "[a]n independent analysis estimated that 75.5 percent of all U.S. households would get his tax credit for workers. A higher percentage of working families would get it."
What analysis? Who did it? Where can I find it? What's the difference between all households and working families, and how significant is it?
I increasingly read articles as if they are blog posts, and frankly, these articles by honest-to-God journalists, who probably don't wear pajamas when they're writing, are just terrible. Any blogger would get crucified in comments for such lazy, content-free reporting.
Journalism is in trouble because the majority of Americans have come to expect more than vague assertions and pre-written storylines. Some are admittedly looking for things that confirm their preconceived notions and keep them comfortable in their prejudices. But many of us are looking for evidence, for facts, for something that is as close to the truth as we can get. Unfortunately for traditional print media, neither those who desire confirmation of a warped worldview nor those who want to be informed that the sky really is blue, dammit, no matter what Rush Limbaugh says, are going to be satisfied with "[a]n independent analysis estimated that 75.5 percent of all U.S. households would get his tax credit for workers."
That analysis, by the way, was conducted by the Tax Policy Center, which is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution. It can be found here. What I cannot fathom is why it was apparently so hard to write "[a]n independent analysis by the Tax Policy Center estimated. . ."
