Questioning news that is questioning bailout plan

In the Sept. 8 lecture, we discussed the new perspective of news analysis. Follis explained that news analysis sounds like opinion, but it is more objective. The idea behind it is the reporter knows so much about a topic that they can analyze the facts. However, she said the line between analysis and opinion is still blurry.

Keeping this in mind when I was reading a news analysis article on the financial crisis, I found that the blurry line between analysis and opinion can potentially be dangerous. The New York Times article called Experts See a Need for Punitive Action in Bailout was analyzing the $700 billion bailout plan. But instead of giving both sides, the reporter only gave one. He quoted many experts, both conservative, liberal, former employees of the federal government and employees of financial institutions, but they all say the plan isn't going to work. The reporter does a great job of supporting this side, but by the end of the article, I'm wondering why the federal government is even considering this plan. The reporter only includes two people that support the plan, and one is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. The other doesn't come into the story until the very end.

To me, this story seems to be an opinions piece masquerading as an analysis or even objective news. Because the story is labeled as analysis, the reader assumes the reporter will look at all sides of the story and come to a conclusion after doing so. However, this reporter only looked at one side of the story. He does a great job covering why people are questioning the bailout plan, but he answers them with one view. The lack of balance in sources leads me to believe that the reporter doesn't think the bailout plan will work.

I think a story by CNN, Stocks stumble at the close, does a much better job of explaining some of the aspects of the financial crisis. The reporter actually explains what is going on in the market and what the federal government plans to do to fix it. CNN does a great of job of being perfectly clear that all the details for the bailout plan haven't been worked out yet, so it can't be fully analyzed.

While I don't necessarily think the bailout plan will work, I think it is important that journalists report all sides of a story. The federal government thinks this plan will work for a reason, and readers should know that side as well.