Political literacy please

Reader comment on: The New Yorker on David and Charles Koch
in response to reader comment: Excellent support of corporatism!

Submitted by Ron Kampeas (United States), Aug 28, 2010 18:41

"Charles Lewis is a left-winger." This is meaningless without what makes him a left-winger. And don't cite his funders -- how are they left-wing, by the way?

Simply describing someone as "left-wing" or "right-wing," bereft of context, is lazy. Ira, you're a seasoned journalist. Your readers deserve better.

Note: Comments are moderated by the editor and are subject to editing.

The Future of Capitalism replies:

How are George Soros and Barbra Streisand left-wing? Come on...

My point was that Mayer describes the right-wing or libertarian organizations as such but made no such description of the left-wing groups she relied on.

I've been writing about Chuck Lewis for more than a decade now; there was a Smartertimes.com item that spelled it all out, and since then he issued a highly political report on the run-up to the Iraq war.

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Title	By	Date
The Kochs may be right [177 words]	Joe	Apr 3, 2011 23:56
Kochs support cancer research while shamelessly polluting the environment [w/response] [59 words]	LT	Aug 28, 2010 20:02
Interesting Omission by Stoll! [141 words]	Steve	Aug 28, 2010 08:15
Excellent support of corporatism! [31 words]	Kai	Aug 27, 2010 16:26
↔ ⇒ Political literacy please [w/response] [48 words]	Ron Kampeas	Aug 28, 2010 18:41
Coins have two sides [105 words]	Peter Boyle	Aug 27, 2010 11:22
Your critique is boring [83 words]	Bob Jacobson	Aug 26, 2010 21:33
10th Worst Polluters in America [127 words]	P.J. Nuhn	Aug 26, 2010 09:27
↔ Re: 10th Worst Polluters in America [w/response] [18 words]	Peep	Aug 26, 2010 14:29
Koch assistance Welcome in South Carolina [101 words]	Timothy N. Moultrie	Aug 25, 2010 16:39
At least someone did their research [116 words]	Peggy Venable	Aug 25, 2010 15:24
New Yorker piece badly researched [75 words]	Eric Crampton	Aug 24, 2010 23:45
Stealth - yes [w/response] [83 words]	JH	Aug 24, 2010 15:56
Center for Public Integrity is not left wing [w/response] [133 words]	Randy Barrett	Aug 24, 2010 14:58
Is this what passes for journalism these days? [89 words]	Carol Skaff	Aug 24, 2010 13:39
Not a dime yet, but we're hoping! [17 words]	Wildwill	Aug 23, 2010 16:49
Well said [47 words]	TJohnson	Aug 23, 2010 16:23
Mr. Stoll's bias is ridiculously evident in his criticism of Jane Mayer's New Yorker article on the Kochs [w/response] [51 words]	t. barr	Aug 23, 2010 16:17