2012 October

Entries from October 30th, 2012

Samuelson’s Confused Commentary about Government Jobs

October 30th, 2012 · No Comments · economy, role of government

By Arthur Alpert I’m on top of the world, swingin’ on a rainbow… On the heels of my musings on the Albuquerque Journal’s low intellectual level, the editors printed another of Robert Samuelson’s syndicated columns. The timing of this vacuous essay is the frosting on my cake, the cherry on my sundae, the exclamation point [...]

For Once, Not Hyping Up a Storm

October 29th, 2012 · No Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier It’s such an important event that the Albuquerque Journal Monday put a story about it on the front page, then gave two full pages – and five more stories – to its coverage inside. We’re not talking elections – although it certainly could affect next Tuesday’s results in terms of voting and [...]

Journalistic Sins

October 26th, 2012 · No Comments · journalism, role of government

By Arthur Alpert Today I was going to remind us that Albuquerque Journal editors remain masters of the misleading headline. Yes, they’ve done it again, putting a rubric atop a token liberal’s column that ignores the burden of his argument. But I’ve noted before how assiduously the headline writers work to defang (when, rarely, the [...]

Another Way To Block Health Care Reform: Nullification

October 25th, 2012 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier Micha Gisser’s columns in the Albuquerque Journal no longer carry the “Rio Grande Foundation fellow” tagline, but the RGF ideology is still there in the University of New Mexico economics professor’s writing, and the Journal is still giving him prominent play. In last week’s “Executive’s Desk” slot (Oct. 15) on A3 of [...]

It’s a Big Story Everywhere But in the Journal: The National Push to Restrict Voting Rights

October 22nd, 2012 · 4 Comments · journalism, voting rights

By Arthur Alpert It is a truth universally acknowledged that judging what’s news is art, not science. That was the consensus in every newsroom I’ve known – that honest journalists could differ on what’s a story and what’s not. And that was the mindset I brought to the task of reading the Albuquerque Journal closely [...]

Occasionally Serving The Public Interest

October 18th, 2012 · No Comments · budget policy, economy, journalism

By Arthur Alpert Every once in a while, the Albuquerque Journal becomes a useful organ of information, hinting at what it might be were management to abandon the practice of advocating its editorial agenda in the so-called news columns. I refer to Dana Priest’s long takeout on the B61 bomb, “the oldest weapon in America’s [...]

Expert Choreography

October 12th, 2012 · No Comments · budget policy, economy, role of government, tax policy

By Arthur Alpert The small role I played in the just-closed production of “Pride and Prejudice” at the Adobe required that I dance. Though I neither fell nor harmed my partner, I doubt my movements constituted dancing. Too bad I lacked the dexterity just demonstrated by Albuquerque Journal editors in coverage of the annual Domenici [...]

Journal Bites Medicaid Expansion Bullet

October 3rd, 2012 · 4 Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier Taking its own advice – “It is time for New Mexico to bite the Medicaid expansion bullet” – the Albuquerque Journal has editorialized in favor of expanding Medicaid in the state (“N.M. Should Embrace Medicaid Expansion,” Sept. 30). Filling a slot normally taken by two editorials, the single missive is heavy on [...]

‘We Can Be Better Than This’

October 1st, 2012 · 2 Comments · Uncategorized

By Denise Tessier Politicians are working to divide us. Other groups are doing it. Many in the media are doing it. In the power struggle that is the game of politics, they exaggerate our differences and ignore one key fact: What we have in common is greater than our differences. With those parting words, Las [...]