June 17, 2004

Goodman Says New Policy May Be Needed for Reporting Bush's Statements

With the latest admission by Secretary of State Colin Powell that the government incorrectly claimed terrorism had decreased, Lee Goodman, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress from the 10th District in Illinois suggested that news organizations consider changing their policies on reporting about the Bush administration. "Bush administration mistakes and deceptions are so commonplace that they are no longer newsworthy," said Goodman. "I respect the independence of news organizations, and I would never attempt to interfere with their judgment. But I think news organizations should think about reporting only the rare instances when the administration actually gets something right. What the administration told us about Iraq turned out to be almost totally inaccurate. The administration's jobs reports were also wrong. At this point people expect administration announcements to be incorrect. The old adage that "man bites dog" is news but "dog bites man" is not news applies well to the present situation."

Back to Index of News Releases