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W. Post Hammered For Partnership With Austerity Ideologue Pete Peterson
OurFuture.org's Roger Hickey sounds alarm at Fiscal Times-W. Post arrangement to advance austerity agenda: "...The Washington Post published an article, presented as a news story, which could be a signal of the death of the Post as an independent and objective news source. The piece, entitled 'Support grows for tackling nation's debt,' appeared to be one of those background news pieces common in newspapers like the Post. But article was written not by the newspaper’s reporters – and not by an objective wire service, like the Associated Press – but by a new organization called The Fiscal Times, whose founder and major backer [is] Peter G. Peterson ... Nowhere in the 'story' would the reader find reference to the fact that it is now official government policy to increase the federal deficit in order to stimulate growth and economic recovery from the worst recession since the great depression. The whole piece seems designed to give prominence to the legislation, advanced by Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., that would create a commission to come up with a plan for slashing deficits which would be voted on – without amendments and with limited debate – by both houses of Congress. No mention is made of the fact that Pete Peterson recently testified in favor of such a commission before Conrad’s Senate Budget Committee."
Politico flags the controversy: "Critics are calling on The Washington Post to stop printing news articles from The Fiscal Times ... In a letter to The Post’s ombudsman, 14 academic and public-policy experts on Social Security said the newspaper should 'rescind the partnership, reserve opinion pieces for the op-ed page, and not allow itself to be a propaganda arm for ideologues who use fiscal distress as a stalking horse to destroy social insurance.'"
Huffington Post's Susie Madrak shreds the Post: "... if the healthcare battle hasn't opened your eyes to the fact that immensely wealthy and powerful corporate interests are perverting our democracy, you're not paying attention. Why else do you suppose the Washington Post turned over a chunk of their news section the other day to a Peterson propaganda supplement - as news content?"
FireDogLake's David Dayen notes the larger battle against the Peterson agenda: "The letter is part of a larger effort to rebut the Peterson Foundation’s money and influence with pushback from multiple angles. As the letter notes, over 40 organizations, including the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Common Cause, NAACP, National Organization for Women and SEIU, have objected to the deficit commission which the Fiscal Times article and Peterson’s organizations in general have promoted."
Media Matters offers a backgrounder on Peterson
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