Struggling with the middle class

Timothy McNulty, the public editor of the Chicago Tribune, writes Friday that the media tends to use the term “middle class” without knowing exactly whom they’re writing about.

McNulty wrote, “I don’t have a good definition, and I am not saying the paper should try to define middle class, but some income numbers are so out of reach for many readers that it is important to be specific about who is being discussed.

“In recent months, for instance, a business columnist suggested middle class refers to people making ‘around’ $100,000.

“But a national desk story out of Dayton, Ohio, described a far different measure: With the demise of so many manufacturing jobs in the Midwest, people were anxious about losing their middle-class jobs that paid $63,500 to $85,000.”

Read more here.