What ever happened to responsible journalism?

A thoroughly rhetorical question. Here's a gem of a screaming front-page, top of the fold, headline in "Canada's National Newspaper":

Why grocery bills will soar

This is from the story's fourth paragraph:

Mr. Shenfeld [a senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce] estimates food inflation will jump from zero to 3.5 per cent next year, outpacing the overall inflation rate for the first time in years...

Some soaring. I wonder why they didn't run this headline for this story:

Transit wages to soar

This is the third paragraph:

The tentative three-year contract must still be ratified by the union's members, but if approved, it will give the TTC's 8,900 bus, subway and streetcar drivers, mechanics and janitors 3-per-cent annual raises and phased-in improvements to their benefits. The deal will make TTC drivers the best paid in the greater Toronto area, Mr. Kinnear said. Neither side would release a price tag on the settlement.

I mean, what's half a percentage point to journalists looking for soaring?

Then the settlement was rejected by union members. I think this actually would be an appropriate headline for a resulting CBC piece:

Tempers soar as transit workers strike

But Dr Dawg soared in support of the strikers; solidarity forever! Andrew Coyne, meanwhile, has a suggestion for dealing with public transit woes generally: privatize. And Colby Cosh wonders if a "boorish, dangerous mob" (guess who?) was responsible for the strike.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at April 29, 2008 09:58 AM