Just to demonstrate that reporting on the the furlough debate doesn’t have to be restricted to “he said, she said”, how about a little data?
Fortunately, the National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled state-by-state data on furloughs and layoffs.
The 3 furlough days per month for two years called for by Gov. Lingle appears to be more than is being implemented in any other state in the country.
Is that relevant to the local debate? Should it encourage more comparisons to the actions being taken as states across the country cope with similar fiscal pressures?
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I liked the front page graphic in today’s print edition of the S-B . Either as a joke or as further evidence that they and the Advertiser have cut their staff — including copy editors — to the bone, our Governor is identified as “Gov. Linda Linda.” I have heard/read “Linda Lingo” in apparent jest as to her spin-doctoring ways, but this is a first.
Good on ya for expecting some actual reporting, Ian. This is a super-important issue as 3/4 of local govt expenses are labor-related. Hawaii is a union state so it’s painful to question the union’s role in skyrocketing costs but there you have it. Until the state can print money then 3/4 of the cuts have to involve pay and benefits. There is no way out of that reality.
In case nobody noticed, Japan and California are imploding. Anyone thinking tourism will “recover” in 2010 is in massive denial.
chuck/Berkeley CA
Do you think that the lack of depth is due to reduced staff and resources or simply lazy reporting or both?
I do think it’s partly due to staff limitations, but it’s not only that. Perhaps that encourages editors to be less pushy, although I’m not clear on that at all. I just think its an overall laxness and failure to insist on some value added details. I’ve got another very similar example that I’ll note tomorrow. I think the chase for readers attention has somehow led to a real confusion between the “news” and “reactions to the news”, with the latter being given priority over the former. That whole approach, which started more simply with encouraging folksy leads based on “how this news impacts the person on the street” has led to the news getting lost and the views taking over.