Gannett Media's Most Worthless Article

I feel bad for Gannett Media at times, as I know people who work there, are consummate professionals, and work their hind off to put out a quality product. However, a "comparatively" large article from Gannett printed in my hometown Fond du Lac Reporter this past Sunday shows to me how sometimes the large pool of resources around the state they have is squandered and worthless for what they attempt.

Just last week there was a large spread on "Mining In Wisconsin" (wow, timely now that that fight has been over for a little while), and just yesterday they had this article titled: "The Economy Simplified: Making Sense of Today's Complicated, Yet Relevant Issues."  Some days, I wonder why I even went to college when I have the nice newspaper people to explain all these super-duper complicated things for me.

Then again, having gone to college is what makes me flip my shit when I read this stuff. Look, I only had a handful of Econ classes in college, so that certainly doesn't make me some whiz-kid or a the next Paul Krugman. However, if "simplifying" things that are inherently complex means dumbing them down to a point where it's worthless even trying to explain it, this article takes gold.

Seriously... First they ask a bunch of "experts," starting with essentially an arm of the Republican Party in Wisconsin Manufactures and Commerce, and cite a ton of different college professors and random other people about their perceptions on things. Never once do they present the fact that there are very different perceptions of where this economy is going, who is winning, who is losing, and why what is happening is happening. Honestly, by the end of it even I was thinking to myself that every measure put out there means absolutely nothing.

Look, I'm not saying that they are being overly political in this article, or that they even are being biased too exclusively one way or another. I just think that in terms of strictly educating the populous, it does a piss-poor job. Sadly, that would be why oh so often people vote against their own economic interests. (I'm looking at you counties that are part of my "Land of Confusion" series!)