As economic worries deepen, news outlets need to return to the facts, or the best expert opinions

Concern over the economy has risen to the point that it calls for commentary and background in news outlets that usually focus on local matters. One of the best servcies these outlets can perform is to get past the partisan and ideological arguments and offer a reliable set of facts (or at least the consensus of expert opinions) for readers, listeners and viewers.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan, investigative news service ProPublica did that last week, laying out a series of "economic myths" and giving the contrary facts. For example, the percentage of income taken by taxes has been going down lately, not up; the stimulus package did not fail, but it fell short of its goals, and more than a third of it came in tax cuts. Read more and share.