Recent quotes:

Morning Must-Read: Paul Krugman: The Closed-Minds Problem - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

the point is not to convince Rick Santelli or Allan Meltzer that they are wrong…. It is, instead, to deter other parties from false equivalence. Inflation cultists can’t be moved; but reporters and editors who tend to put out views-differ-on-shape-of-planet stories because they think it’s safe can be, sometimes, deterred if you show that they are lending credence to charlatans…. The inflation-cult story is, I think, a prime example…. It really would be nice not having to do things this way. But that’s the world we live in…
#Paul-Krugman #Dialogue #Journamalism #Inflation-Cult - equitablegrowth.org

Lunchtime Must-Read: Paul Krugman: Triumph of the Chart - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Paul Krugman: Triumph of the Chart: “The Vox interview with President Obama… …reactions… not just from the right, but from centrists are remarkable. Jack Shafer compares it to a Scientology recruitment film; Rich Lowry compares it to Leni Riefenstahl…. What seems to offend the critics is the very idea of covering a politician’s policies…. Back in 2004… you could watch all the network and major cable coverage for two months, and learn literally nothing about, say, the candidates’ health care plans…. That’s the kind of thing the people at Vox are trying to fix–and the response is to accuse them of acting like cultists if not Nazis.
#Paul-Krugman #Dialogue #Journamalism #Numeracy - equitablegrowth.org

Nighttime Must-Read: Matthew Yglesias: Why Politicians Are so Boring (and the MSM Is so Bad) - Washington Center for Equitable Growth

Matthew Yglesias: Why Politicians Are so Boring (and the MSM Is so Bad): “Gaffe-coverage… signif[ies] nothing and leav[es] nothing behind… …distracts from more consequential, but complicated, debates…. In an internet world of limited time but unlimited newshole the ‘gaffe’ story offers easy content…. Last… the old-time division between ‘news’ and ‘opinion’ continues to saddle much mainstream political coverage with a perverse bias toward tactics and process… that a politician gaffed is a fact… while the fact that a politician’s agenda might be bad for the world is opinion…
#Matthew-Yglesias #Journamalism - equitablegrowth.org