Pushback on Quote Approval

July 23, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Obama, Romney and many other politicians have gotten used to quote approval. This means that before a reporter publishes a story, he must send it to the campaign and have the quotes in it approved. It’s a pretty absurd tactic as it allows the campaigns to change and manipulate their words after the fact. Well, from the New York Times today:

In a memorandum to the staff, Ron Fournier, National Journal’s editor in chief, said, “If a public official wants to use NJ as a platform for his/her point of view, the price of admission is a quote that is on-record, unedited and unadulterated.”

The Washington Examiner said the same last week and the Times itself is now reviewing its policy.

This really shouldn’t be a hard decision. Quote approval is absurd. It takes the point out of an interview. Public officials can just go back after the fact, edit what they said so that it’s exactly what they want to say and then have the writer publish it that way. That’s just a fluff piece.

It’s about time all news organizations adopt this requirement. If you’re a journalist and a public official denies you an interview because of this rule, instead write that for your article. Rip into the official for a lack of transparency and an unwillingness to speak. Pretty soon, officials will be talking on the record and maybe, just maybe, there will be less lying and deception in politics. It certainly can’t hurt.

Graph of the Day: Obama’s Tax Plan vs. Romney’s Tax Plan

July 19, 2012July 23, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

Courtesy of Naomi Robbins via Ezra Klein at Wonkblog, here’s how individuals at different income levels would fare under Obama and Romney’s tax plans. It’s not pretty:

Imagine if Americans saw this and believed it, would Romney even have a chance? Alas, that’s a pipe dream. Even those who do see it will believe the numbers were just manipulated and there’s no way Romney could have a tax plan like that. But those numbers come from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center and are not manipulated. Romney’s tax plan really is a massive tax cut for the rich.

Democrat Support for Obamacare Jumps

July 2, 2012Danny Vinik Leave a comment

A lot of political reporters have commented on the Kaiser Family Foundation poll released today with numbers in the aftermath of the Supreme Court upholding the Affordable Care Act. Overall, Americans seem to want the opponents of the law to move on and support for the law has moved slightly in the Democrats’ favor, though it really has not changed much.

There was one graph that immediately jumped out at me though:

Democrats who have a very favorable opinion of the bill has skyrocketed from before the health care decision until afterwards, up from 31 percent to 47%. In fact, Democrats have never had a more favorable opinion of the bill. What does this mean? Probably nothing, the economy will be the main focus come November and health care won’t have an affect, but it has to be nice for Obama to finally see some appreciation from Democrats for his health care bill.

The poll also finds that the decision makes Democrats 18 percent more likely to vote and Republicans 31 percent. I would imagine that the rise in Democrats who have a very favorable opinion of the law would make them more likely to vote, but conservative hatred of the law is a stronger driver of votes than liberal approval of it. I will be highly surprised if it actually matters in the presidential election, but interesting nonetheless (especially on a slow news day).