Or at least reporters are. What on earth would any reader learn about the budget from this AP story on the farm bill that ran in the NYT? The article just reports every item in billions of dollars -- it never gives shares of the budget or per person expenditures -- information that would tell readers whether the spending on this bill is a big deal in terms of the budget or their tax dollars. More importantly, the article never tells readers that the appropriations are over 5 years. This does make a difference. The NYT would do its readers and the environment a great service if they just saved the trees rather than print budget stories like this.
--Dean Baker
