All the News That's Fit to Print?
Media's agenda leaves much news unreported

Important events of 2005 have been profoundly under-reported relative to their significance to America and the world.

The No. 1 example of this has to be the nation’s economy. The media’s negativity on this issue just doesn’t make sense in the face of low unemployment, low interest rates and low inflation. Such reporting helps explain a Gallup poll finding that only 28 percent of Americans express confidence in the media.

Also under-reported: the successful elections in Iraq, with astonishing voter turnout despite terrorists’ threats and killings. The world deserves to know this story as well as stories of our troops’ courage and heroism.

The Christian Science Monitor reported on U.S. census findings that confirm tangible progress in the “material well-being” of all society. A University of Dallas economist said, “It amazes me the number of people at or near the poverty line that have color TVs, cable, washer, dryer, microwave, etc.”

Ninety-two percent below the poverty line said they had enough to eat, 86 percent had no unmet need for a doctor and 87 percent had no unpaid rent or mortgage, a story unreported in most news outlets.

A glaring case of under-reporting concerns December’s discovery of a military weapons cache in the Iraqi desert. U.S. soldiers dug up more than 1,000 rockets and missiles with service records dating to Hussein’s regime. This story of buried weapons was itself buried inside a Kentucky daily newspaper’s local section, page four, surrounded by classified advertising. Under-reported or agenda-driven placement?

Scant note has been taken by the Kentucky media of Gov. Fletcher’s successes. Instead, a daily barrage of stories depicts the state’s governor as corrupt and simple-minded.

Seriously under-reported is the governor’s achievement of turning an inherited $1 billion budget deficit into a $214 million surplus in less than two years. He spear-headed Kentucky’s tax modernization, broadening the business tax base, closing loopholes and reducing tax rates. This spurred economic growth and helped create jobs - more than 60,000 since January, 2004 according to statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor.

He saved $44 million through attrition and saved $74 million in transportation costs through tighter scrutiny of contract bidding and change orders and reducing overtime. He recently helped bring the 2010 World Equestrian Games to Lexington. The media basically ignored these stories in favor of obsessively hammering Gov. Fletcher.

The attorney general’s office might do well to concentrate on possible real crime instead of camping out in the executive’s office looking for misdemeanors. It could investigate the Dutch bank now under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which transferred billions of dollars into the United States, including $1 billion to a defunct Lexington company, without reporting these transactions to the U.S. government. This bank admits falsifying documents and failing to report transactions with Iran and Libya, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now, this is a story!

Editors need to overcome their bias and sneering contempt, which has resulted in lost credibility, circulation and respect from readers. Quit celebrating totalitarians as heroes and bashing Kentucky and American ideals!

Pat Freibert is a former Kentucky state representative from Lexington.
editorial@lanereport.com

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