And then I wrote...
by Dick Schilling, "Editor Emeritus"
... that I noted here a few weeks back that newspaper headlines are most often written by somebody other than the person who wrote the story, and so can frequently be misleading.
Case in point.
The headline said student-athletes at Iowa voiced concerns in a survey, and the lede said the concerns were about bullying and hazing. It wasn’t until the eighth paragraph, on the jump page, after a sub-head, that we learned that fewer than eight percent (7.73) of those surveyed had concerns. The proper headline should have been that over 92% of those surveyed had no concerns. In fact, there was a hint of that earlier in the story when it was reported that “UI athletes on average are pretty happy with their athletic experiences.”
A little later on, it was noted that six percent reported verbal abuse and only one percent sexual abuse, hardly alarming statistics.
So why the discrepancy between the headline and the story? Either the headline writer didn’t bother to read the story, or the story did not fit his (or her) personal bias.
Rehka Basu, many of you know, is one of my favorite sources for opinions with which I almost certainly will disagree. She writes for The Des Moines Register, which I read every day, because whatever the Register is for, I will usually be against.
Sunday, Basu wrote a paean to Cuba after a visit there.
She said she has always “hankered” to go there even though it was illegal, because she was “fascinated by the Cuban revolution led by the Castro brothers, Fidel and Raul,” and Che Guevara, who replaced a dictator with socialism. That dream of a classless society has not been realized(!) she admits.
As proof, she acknowledges that waiters and taxi drivers, presumably paid by individuals, earn more than doctors and engineers, whose salaries are government controlled.
She appreciates that food is provided for free by the government, but admits the food ration frequently runs out.
All newspapers and television stations are government controlled and reflect only the government’s views, and internet browsing is monitored by the government.
Can Cubans get out from under socialism? Well, any sort of democratic election is a ways off, she says, and when elections are held, no competing parties will be allowed on the ballot!
Still, Americans should encourage Cuba, and respect its differences, she suggests.
Sorry. Can’t do. As unwieldy as our republic’s government can be, it beats the heck out of the socialism as practiced in Cuba, or Venezuela.
