Michael Hardy, Jeff Schapiro and the Richmond Times-Dispatch have outdone themselves with the headline and lead paragraph of their transportation story today:
Fees, fines for roads proposed
GOP plan relies on bonds, increased fees and fines, and $250 million from schools, police and the poor.Republicans hope to finance Virginia transportation improvements with the government credit card, by siphoning significant dollars from schools, police and the poor and raising taxes and fees for drivers and homeowners.
Funny, I don’t recall the news reporters of the Times-Dispatch using the pejorative description “financing … with the government credit card” when characterizing Warner administration initiatives to issue bonds for parks and college construction projects. Apparently, issuing long-term bonds to underwrite acquisition/construction of long-term assets is prudent finance when executed by Democrats but reckless when proposed by Republicans.
As for “siphoning significant dollars from schools, police and the poor,” the charge may parrot Democratic Party talking points — “Sen. R. Edward Houck, D-Spotsylvania, a budget negotiator, emphasized, ‘We should not pave roads in Virginia at the expense of schoolchildren and frail, elderly nursing home patients'” — but it is never backed up in the story. The fact is, the Republican plan wouldn’t cut a dime from existing programs. A number of politicians are concerned that transportation would compete with schools, health care, etc. for future dollars, but that’s a very different story.
It’s bad enough that two experienced political writers would craft such a lede. It’s even worse that no one on the T-D copy desk failed to call them on it — and, worse, would replicate the offense in the headline. Tom Silvestri, read the treatment of this story by other Virginia newspapers. Then sit down with the editorial staff for a little chat explaining the difference between writing news stories and writing editorials.
Washington Post
Virginian-Pilot
Roanoke Times
Free Lance-Star
Washington Times
(For the record, I am not defending the Republican road-financing plan, which I regard as a horror and abomination and will criticize in a future post. I simply expect the Times-Dispatch to uphold the fundamental tenets of journalism.)
