There is one news organization that makes it a habit to actually get at the facts, and ignore the right wing spin that everyone else reports in, at best, a “he said, she said” style, assuming that they don’t buy it hook, line and sinker. Not the New York Times, not the Washington Post, and certainly not any of the television networks. It is lonely little McClatchey. McClatchey purchased Knight Ridder, which was the sole news outlet actually looking for the truth before the benighted adventure began in Iraq.
Recently, the Republican members of the “bi-partisan commission” tasked with figuring out the reason for the economic collapse (which as Paul Krugman points out, are painfully obvious to any sentient non-Republican) decided to break with the commission, which had just refused their request that the terms “Wall Street”, “deregulation” and “shadow banking” be left out of the groups report. The Republicans, never letting the facts get in the way, intend to issue their own report, blaming the collapse on Freddie and Fannie Mae, a pet delusion of the right. Note that one reading the article at the link, from Bloomberg’s this time, would never know just how intellectually dishonest that assertion is.
But if you read McClatchy here is what you get:
As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail.
Commentators say that’s what triggered the stock market meltdown and the freeze on credit. They’ve specifically targeted the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which the federal government seized on Sept. 6, contending that lending to poor and minority Americans caused Fannie’s and Freddie’s financial problems.
Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren’t true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.
See! Is that so very hard? No on the one hand and on the other hand. Just the facts, just like Joe Friday.
Starting in January we will see Congressional investigations that will prove beyond doubt that the private banks were blameless for the mess they caused. With some honorable exceptions they will be accorded respect in the media and treated as if they should be taken seriously. As a result, and at best, we will lay the groundwork for an repetition of the crisis that has left everyone but the bankers far poorer than they were. It’s the way it is in America. If the Republicans said it, the media would report without quibble that shit doesn’t stink. Come to think of it, with this story, that’s exactly what they’re doing.
Thanks to Matt Berger for picking up on the McClatchy story in his ongoing coverage of the mortgage mess. (Unfortunately, no link to Matt, his stuff comes via an email newsletter)
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