The front page of the metro section of today's New York Times carries an article that begins, "Forget the big-league political consultants like David Garth, James Carville and Roger Ailes, who have become almost as famous as the candidates they shape and reshape to run for the presidency and other high offices."
Hello? Roger Ailes is not a "big-league political consultant" and he doesn't "shape and reshape" candidates. He used to be one. But since at least 1996, he's been a television news executive. The metro section editors might have noticed a little something about him and his new career in the Times Sunday magazine a few weeks back, had they been paying attention.
Price-Fixing: The national section of today's New York Times carries an article under the headline "Leading Colleges Adopt New Guidelines for Awarding Financial Aid." The "guidelines" amount to an anti-competitive price-fixing cartel, and the last time the colleges tried something like it, student aid awards increased dramatically after the Justice Department stepped in to halt the practice. The Times notes the Justice Department's action, along with a Congressional action, in passing near the end of today's article, but in general the newspaper falls for the colleges' spin, portraying the new guidelines as an effort to maintain need-based aid. The article quotes two college presidents but not a single independent economist, Justice Department official or tuition-paying parent.