Reuters Plays a Democratic Party Game

In a story headlined, House approves $39.7 bln spending cuts (Dec 19, 2005), Reuters helps the Democrats play one of their favorite games. In the process, it misleads the public.

The story begins:

The House of Representatives on Monday narrowly voted to cut $39.7 billion from federal spending over five years, including health care and other social welfare, as part of a conservative push to contain these growing programs.

By a vote of 212-206, the House, at the end of a rare overnight session, approved the spending cuts, which were opposed by Democrats.

The House really didn’t make any spending cuts to health care and other social programs. It voted multi-billion dollar spending increases for them all, only by a slightly smaller percentage than earlier proposed.

But Reuters partners with the Democrats and calls the reduction in proposed spending increases “program cuts.”

Once an MSM news organization reports such “program cuts,” a game rule requires it to quote Democrats hammering Republicans for “hurting the poor and helpless.”

Reuters followed the rule:

Democrats criticized spending cuts to student loans, child care and other programs. Rep. John Spratt (news, bio, voting record) of South Carolina, the senior Budget Committee Democrat, complained that Republicans were negotiating last-minute deals to help medical equipment manufacturers and suppliers, while maintaining reductions in some programs for the poor.

Rep. Chet Edwards (news, bio, voting record), a Texas Democrat, said, "This bill under the Republican leadership makes Scrooge look like a philanthropist."
...
Additional savings would come in student loan programs, which Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat, called "the biggest cuts to student aid programs ever."

Ther's also a rule that allows MSM news organizations to report terrible things about Republicans without any supporting evidence. So Reuters can report Rep. Spratt accused Republicans of “negotiating last-minute deals to help ... manufacturers and suppliers, while (reducing) programs for the poor” without a quote from Spratt or anything else to support what it claims he said.

Some game!

Reuters waits until the sixteenth paragraph before reporting the $39.7 billion decrease in spending growth is part of a five year, $14 trillion dollar budget proposal. And it never reports the $39.7 billion represents only one-third of one percent of that $14 trillion.

Why does Reuters wait until the sixteenth paragraph? Why does it fail to report "one-third of one percent?"

Because that’s the way an MSM news organization plays the Democrats’ game.