The AP's shoddy journalism

Ironically enough, just as I was bemoaning the poor quality of reporting that has rapidly risen to become the standard at the Associated Press this morning in 'Couple of Things' comes this story.

Apparently an unnamed source is all the AP needs to directly contradict the actual documented report and run with a grossly inflated and terribly inaccurate number.

The Congressional Budget Office, however, has conducted its initial score of the House Democrats' health care reform bill and projects the cost to be $1 trillion over the next 10 years. The AP, however, has opted against using the actual numbers determined by the economists and researchers at the non-partisan agency and instead relied on, at least initially, an unnamed congressional aide.

The problem, of course, is this information is inaccurate and at odds with what is officially on the record. And the follow-up done by the AP in an attempt to justify its own shoddy work merely confuses the situation that much more.

The reporting is so sloppy, it's staggering.

The AP's own analysis - it in and of itself being flawed - projects the total outlays to be $1.65 trillion with $1.3 trillion in projected offsets, thus putting the final price tag at $350 billion. However, none of those three numbers are ever used anywhere in their reporting as the AP instead relies on $1.5 trillion as the final number.

Yet, there's no justification for that figure. If their own analysis yields $1.65 trillion, why not utilize that number? If they've already conducted a complete scoring that takes into account offsets, why put forward the $350 billion? Why the need for additional analysis when the official score from the CBO is for $1 trillion?

Greg Sargant has been tracking this most of the day ...

But again, the problem is that we don’t yet know what the bill will cost in the end. Estimates differ. House Dems argue that it’s reckless to assign a hard and fast cost before the CBO has completed its score. Yet the AP keeps describing the bill as a “$1.5 trillion plan,” without registering the Dem objection — and without including the CBO’s initial analysis.

Even if you agree that the bill is likely to cost this in the end, it’s still reckless of the AP to keep treating this number as established fact, when it simply isn’t any such thing.