USA Today story on minimum wage ignores background of subject

A USA Today story in Tuesday’s paper written by Stephanie Armour about a family struggling to make ends meet on Florida’s minimum wage fails to include details about the person that would put the story into a different perspective, argues Business & Media Institute’s Ken Shepherd.

Shepherd wrote, “Armour began her day-after-Labor Day Money section story by admitting that most minimum wage-earners ‘tend to be young,’ often with only a high school diploma, and, according to the Labor Department, at 1.9 million workers only ‘make up 2.5% of all hourly paid workers’ in the United States – an 82-percent improvement since 1979’s 13.9 rate.

“Yet Armour’s article and five accompanying photos focused on ‘Alice Laguerre, 53, of Orlando,’ a high school drop-out. ‘When I’m by myself, I cry. People never know when I’m down and out. Times are very hard,’ she complained to Armour about life working low wages at an auto auction company.

“Nothing more than a sad story of one person left behind in a strong economy, right?

“Not exactly. Internet and Nexis searches indicated, and an official with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) confirmed, that Laguerre is a community organizer for the liberal advocacy group, a fact unmentioned by Armour.

“Among other liberal policy objectives, ‘ACORN is fighting to raise the national minimum wage, and working to win fair wages in many cities and states,’ according to its office Web site. The group was involved in the recent move by the Chicago City Council to increase wages there.

“ACORN’s Web site showed that Laguerre is the chairwoman of the Orange Blossom Trail (OBT) chapter of the group’s Orlando office. A May 31, 2005, news release from the ACORN Web site revealed that Laguerre was a speaker at a May 27, 2005 rally.”

Later, Shepherd noted, “A search in Nexis for the past two years generated seven items featuring Laguerre, one of which was a signed letter to the editor of the Orlando Sentinel from Laguerre. Of the other six, two Associated Press (AP) items left out Laguerre’s ties to the liberal group.

“AP reporter Bill Kaczor filed a March 1 story from Tallahassee that mentioned ACORN’s campaign to raise Florida’s minimum wage, and separately mentioned Laguerre but did not associate the two.”

Read more here. USA Today Money section managing editor Jim Henderson did not reply to a request for comment.

I use a couple of Armour-written articles in my Business Reporting class as examples of how you should never believe anything a company or executive tells you. Read more here and here.