Tag: LA Times

LA Times’ uncorrected errors and bad reporting

Here is a trail of woe; a massive mess of misidentification and misinformation by mainstream media muckety-mucks.

Following a complaint about several errors to the managing editor of the Deseret News, the newspaper with the second-highest gain in audience in the country, made one correction.

But the other four errors remain.  One, a syndicated error by the New York Times, appears in another Times story, as well.

Another of the Deseret News errors originated with the Los Angeles Times.  The false American history is even uncorrected on the LA newspaper’s website.  Some guy at da Times named McManus writes, “Who’s the hero? Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to allow limits on campaign spending — and potentially put the American Future Fund out of business.”

The Republican party is not the majority party, so Senator McConnell is not Majority Leader.  In fact, he has never been the majority leader.

Linking (unbelieveably) to Wikipedia, Johanna Neuman writes, “’Tackling fraud and abuse is one of the issues that can and should form the basis of a bipartisan, step-by-step approach to healthcare reform,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday, ‘not as a hook to drag this monstrous bill over the finish line.'”

Seriously: Wiki. Flipping. Pedia.

Another doozy, by ace scribe and Letters to the Editor editor Paul Thornton:  “They have vilified the president ever since Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to make Barack Obama a one-termer.”

As if the senator has the power to set the agenda.

Rookie Kim Geiger writes, “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) excused himself early, and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) waved the issue away after reporters trailed him in pursuit of a response.”

In April, LA Times’ keyboard finger-flapper Robin Abcarian led with, “What is wrong with the New York Post?”

Abcarian has a problem with attribution.  The LA Times and the New York Times have a problem with the Associated Press (and math).

What is “wrong” with the Los Angeles Times?

Trend

To: Howard Marks, billionaire

Your website states: “About 25.5% of consumers — or 43.4 million people — had credit scores below 600 in April, according to FICO Inc. Historically, only about 15% of consumers — or 25.5 million — have had scores below that level, FICO said.”

You are mistaken.

A trend illustrated by credit score company Fair Isaac (FICO) indicates this, from 2005 through 2011:

23.6 – 23.3 – 23.8 – 24.1 – 25.1 – 25.5 – 24.7

A June, 2011 report by an organization named Demos cites your article.

What is the name of the person at Fair Isaac who was the source for those statistics?  If you refer to written information, what are the names of those documents, and who provided them?

What is your corrections policy?

 

credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

[10/1/2010.  See update.]

 From: Greg Fisher
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 8:17 AM
To: Robin Abcarian, national correspondent, Los Angeles Times
Cc: Deirdre Edgar, readers’ representative, Los Angeles Times
Subject: RE: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times, presumptuousness

That is not why I am asking.  The question is this:  Where did you get that information? 

Further, if you can’t name a source for what you believed was a fact, then did you just make it up?  In other words, how did it happen?

The bigger question (not for you):  How did members of Congress, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of the Treasury conclude that employers use credit scores, and what caused the nauseating media trend?

Citizens looking for jobs have enough to worry about, already.  They deserve an explanation. 

From: Abcarian, Robin
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 1:13 AM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Subject: Re: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

Ah…I see why you are asking: the credit score vs the credit report. I’ll look into running a correction.

From: Abcarian, Robin
Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 12:54 AM
To: ‘greg@creditscoring.com’
Subject: Re: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

It’s a fact that’s been reported on ad nauseum. 

From: Greg Fisher
To: Robin Abcarian, national correspondent, Los Angeles Times
Sent: Fri Sep 24 22:40:22 2010
Subject: credit score, employers, Los Angeles Times

You wrote, “That and his ruined credit score, which prospective employers often check.”

Who is your source regarding credit score use by employers?