Depth

A typical theme to N&O reporting is to print the "story of the day" from the NY Times or LA Times. Easy and cheap for a regional paper, but it does mean that the paper inherits the reporting sins of the liberal MSM leaders.

One method to improve the N&O is to assign a reporter to reexamine some of the "stories of the day" weeks or months after they are printed. The initial story is usually inaccurate or inflated to gain political points against conservatives. But the MSM rarely prints the follow-up story that would debunk their initial bias-laden claims.

For example, several months ago the Democratic talking point of the week (echoed by the N&O) was that revisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime rules would reduce overtime for many workers who needed the extra money. Labor unions, lefty hack economists and the MSM all spun the story to show the Bush administration was out to get "the working man."

The rules were revised, and the first studies are showing an increase, not a decrease, in those receiving overtime pay. Besides the WSJ, I have not seen any corrections, apologies or clarifications of errors from the MSM. Why doesn't the N&O take the lead in this area? This project could take one reporter half a day per week. Review some old articles that had partisan political content, check the new studies and quote the folks who were right and those who were wrong.