Is it wrong not to identify conservative, anti-immigration sources when writing columns on immigration? I know a lot of journalists read this what do you think?

I want to point this out because biased data begets biased results. I know I have made the mistake of posting something that at the time I didn’t know came from such sources so this isn’t surprising to me. Until you know the agenda of these sources, these thinktanks, their claims and stats cloud the issues. The Manhattan Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Center for Immigration Studies do just this.

I am writing this post because I came across two things at the same time. First out of Colorado an article entitled “Post’s Knight failed to identify conservative, anti-immigration sources for column on immigration” found at http://colorado.mediamatters.org that points this issue out.

“In charging that the fiscal impact of a proposed Senate immigration reform bill would be dire, Denver Post columnist Al Knight did not mention that the sources for his figures were two conservative groups: the Heritage Foundation think tank and the Center for Immigration Studies, which “seeks fewer immigrants.”"

At almost the same time I saw the article by the Washington Time’s journalist George Will via the Chicago Sun-Times entitled “Immigration bill doomed to fail” found at http://www.suntimes.com that has some great lines attributable to several of these groups such as:

“On Monday, Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation stunned some senators who heard his argument that continuing, under family-based immigration, to import a low-skilled population will cost the welfare state far more than the immigrants’ contributions to the economy and government.”

So not only are we the public “stunned” by their findings but our Senators as well (and possible our journalists).

I can only hope that somehow non-biased info makes it way into the hands of the people we elected to make the best decision as well as those writing to shape public opinion.

Please share your thoughts below

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