Media Mislead on Social Security

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Social Security We pay into Social Security now they are robing it and we have to pay interest on treasury bonds to replenish it.
http://seniors-site.com/forum/usury.html

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                   Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
              Media analysis, critiques and activism

http://www.fair.org/activism/cbs-cnn-social-security.html

ACTION ALERT:
CBS, CNN Media Mislead on Social Security

December 13, 2004

The debate over Social Security privatization could very well be the most
important domestic story of the coming year. Unfortunately, recent media
discussions of the topic are built on flawed assumptions and inaccurate
information.

"Social Security is in trouble," announced CNN reporter Bruce Morton on
the December 9 broadcast of NewsNight with Aaron Brown, adding:
"Politicians like South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham know it." Though
that's the starting point for the segment, the "trouble" that Social
Security faces might not be nearly as bad as the "solution" offered by
politicians like Graham.

According to its own trustees reports, Social Security will be able to
operate just as it does now until 2042; another projection from the
Congressional Budget Office forecasts 10 additional years of solvency. Not
bad for a program in "crisis."

What's more, the "bankruptcy" of Social Security has been moving steadily
into the future; in 1997, the program was expected to run short of funds
in 2029, or 32 years; now, in 2004, the trustees say they won't need more
cash until 2042-- gaining 13 years of projected black ink in just seven
years (Political Animal, 12/13/04).

But CNN offered none of these caveats; the only sources in the report were
Michael Tanner of the libertarian Cato Institute and Robert Bixby of the
Concord Coalition-- both of whom support some form of Social Security
privatization. Another guest was a 27-year old who suggested that Social
Security would not be around for her when she needed it.

With such a one-sided debate, reporters turn to calling various
privatization schemes "reform," and they suggest that something must be
done. As Morton put it, "Fixing the system will have to hurt, somehow. But
not fixing it may hurt worse."

Before the segment, CNN anchor Aaron Brown commented: "We expect in the
days ahead to take a good, hard look at Social Security reform,
privatization and the rest. This is, if you will, the trillion-dollar
elephant in the room." One hopes that CNN will take a "hard look" at the
facts regarding Social Security, and include a broad range of opinions on
the fiscal health of the program, as well as the faulty assumptions that
are used to support the case for privatization.

CBS Evening News, on the other hand, profiled one man in its December 9
report on Social Security: Tad DeHaven, whose on-screen ID was "National
Taxpayers Union." According to reporter John Roberts, he is a "poster
child for Social Security reform: 28 years old, a college graduate, in the
work force for six years, getting married next May, expected to retire in
2042. That's the year Social Security goes broke."

For starters, that is not when Social Security "goes broke." According to
the conservative estimates of its trustees report, Social Security would
still be able to pay about 73 percent of its obligations after 2042. And
as economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic & Policy Research
frequently points out, "the projections show that the program will always
be able to pay a higher real benefit than that received by current
retirees" (Economic Reporting Review, 12/6/04), since future benefits are
projected to be more generous than those given to today's seniors.

But while CBS viewers learned a fair amount about Tad DeHaven's personal
life, they weren't given a crucial bit of information about his
professional career: the National Taxpayers Union is a conservative
Beltway group dedicated to Social Security privatization, and DeHaven has
also worked at the like-minded Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation
(Political Animal, 12/10/04). So when Roberts noted that DeHaven "is fully
on board the plan to establish private accounts for Social Security" and
"argues doing nothing is not an option," that shouldn't have been a
surprise.

Why was CBS using a figure closely associated with the privatization side
of the debate in a "man on the street" interview? Whatever the reason, the
end result was clear: a report that sorely needed to be balanced.

ACTION:

Tell CNN NewsNight to offer a broader debate in its upcoming reports about
Social Security, including the viewpoints of those who do not believe that
Social Security faces an imminent crisis. And ask CBS Evening News if it
plans to air a clarification noting that the "man on the street" it used
to explain Social Security's future was in fact a paid proponent of Social
Security privatization.

CONTACT:
CBS Evening News
mailto:evening@cbsnews.com
Phone: 212-975-3691

CNN NewsNight
mailto:newsnight@cnn.com
Phone: 212-275-7700

As always, please remember that your comments have more impact if you
maintain a polite tone. Please send a copy of your correspondence to
fair@fair.org.

More resources on Social Security:

CounterSpin interview with Seth Ackerman (12/10/04):
http://www.fair.org/counterspin/121004.html

"The Myth of Social Security's Imminent Collapse," by Doug Henwood
(Extra!, 7-8/95):
http://www.fair.org/extra/9507/ss-collapse.html

Center for Economic & Policy Research:
http://www.cepr.net



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