So here we have Mississippi House overwhelmingly passing a law permitting payday lending in the state through 2015.  Exactly one story is published on the passage, and it’s in the Associated Press, and (big surprise) it’s a negative article.
It strikes me as incredibly lazy that an AP reporter just regurgitates sentences that literally could be lifted out of hundreds of similar articles.
Is there no journalistic curiosity anymore?
Look at this negative language:”The Mississippi House voted Thursday to let payday lending businesses keep operating in the state beyond 2015, despite objections by some lawmakers that the shops congregate in poor neighborhoods and take advantage of people who might not be financially savvy.”
Isn’t it possible that people who choose to use payday loans actually are very financially savvy?  That maybe they decided this was the very best choice for them?
“”This is an evil, evil system,” Bailey said. “It is hurting poor people who cannot afford it.”
Then why do they keep using the loans over and over again?
“Rep. Adrienne Wooten, D-Jackson, said the payday lending industry has bought steak dinners and given campaign contributions to other elected officials.”
But no other industry does this? No other interest lobbies or contributes to campaigns?
Does the AP really expect me to take them seriously?
You can read more on payday loans from a non-partisan perspective at www.paydayloanfacts.org
1 user commented in " Mississippi Passes Good Payday Loan Law, Media Criticizes "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI agree- I believe I read the same article, and I was also struck by the quote “It’s an evil, evil system…” Made me think of fearmongering 1950’s propaganda that allowed rumor and grudges to triumph over objectivity and trial.
Only at the very , very end of the article do they have a quick quote from a lawmaker who actually considered the issue and passed the law: House Banking Committee Chairman Hank Zuber: ““I am tired of the sensationalism and the politicization of this subject.” How ironic the AP article wouldn’t take that line to heart themselves.
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