Free Republic

Although hard to believe, the following ad appeared in the help-wanted section of yesterday's Arizona Republic: Business Columnist Wanted The Arizona Republic, a Gannett newspaper with a circulation of a half-million, has an immediate opening for a business columnist. The ideal candidate will have a journalism degree and at least ten years of experience with a big-city newspaper. It is not necessary to have an in-depth knowledge of economics, finance, statistics or the philosophical, moral and historical foundations of capitalism. Nor does the candidate need to know how to conduct research. It will be a plus, however, if the candidate...

Cantoni Writes: Nothing works with Robbie, Chip and Chris. I've tried being nice, I've tried appealing to their professional pride, and I've tried reminding them of what is taught in journalism school about balanced reporting -- to no avail. They just keep cranking out their one-sided coverage of public policy issues. Who are Robbie, Chip and Chris? They are journalists for a big-city daily with a circulation of over 500,000. They recently co-authored an above-the-fold, front-page story on the proposal of state Republican leaders to close a state budget deficit. The name of the state is irrelevant, as most states...

The editorial page of last Sunday's Arizona Republic was in keeping with a long journalistic tradition. The tradition happens to be that of Pravda, the Communist Party newspaper, but it is a tradition nonetheless. If you think the comparison is unwarranted, consider Sunday's three editorials, which endorsed more taxes, more government spending, more redistribution of income, more government control of families and more central planning. And that is not all. Also in keeping with the Pravda tradition, the editorials distorted the facts and served as propaganda pieces for the paper's statist agenda. One editorial said that the city of Mesa...