Hard to Believe: The New York Times on Wisconsin

Both parts were crucial, but unions and Democrats had focused their anti-Walker campaign on the collective bargaining piece no doubt because it took the focus off of popular cost-saving measures and allowed them to charge that it was, as Sulzberger wrote, “a politically motivated effort to weaken unions.”

So how did Sulzberger describe the tweaked “budget repair bill?” He called it simply “the bill on collective bargaining” as if it were no longer a bill aimed at budget cutting. In fact, his piece nowhere mentions the fact that other major provisions remained in the bill.

Sulzberger noted a lawsuit challenging what he calls “unusual legislative maneuvering” without including the rather significant fact that three nonpartisan state agencies told Republicans they could proceed as they did and that the senate clerk ruled that the proceedings were well within the law. How is it that these facts did not make the piece?

Any assessment of the long-term politics of the Wisconsin fight is, by definition, speculative. The Times is correct that most public polling seems to show voters are skeptical of the kinds of changes Walker has brought to public employee unions. But it’s worth noting that those questions almost all asked about the state taking away “collective bargaining rights” of workers – wording that undoubtedly favors the pro-union position.

In a poll late last week that has received virtually no attention, Gallup asked voters a similar question, but worded differently, and placed in the context of budget deficits – a far more accurate way of depicting what Walker is doing. The question: “Thinking now about state government efforts to balance their budgets, please say whether you would favor or oppose taking each of the following steps to help balance your state’s budget. How about _____?”

When Gallup filled in the blank with “changing state laws to limit the bargaining power of state employee unions” – precisely what Walker did – 49 percent of respondents approved and just 45 percent opposed.

Voter opinion about what Scott Walker has done in Wisconsin depends on an accurate understanding of what happened. The articles in America’s newspaper of record – by incorrectly reporting Walker’s willingness to compromise, by omitting basic facts that undermine the narrative of the pro-union left, and by focusing on means (collective bargaining limits) and virtually ignoring ends (balanced budgets) – make such an understanding more difficult.

Hard to believe.