Friday Mailbag: Soda, the Health Act and ‘Mrs.’ Trump

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/public-editor/friday-mailbag-soda-the-health-act-and-mrs-trump.html

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Whether because of the open enrollment period in insurance or the looming decision on the Affordable Care Act, health was on Times readers’ minds this week. One article specifically, in the Well section, drew the most heat from readers.

The story, on a U.S.D.A. report describing the purchasing habits of families that get government food aid, was framed as a look inside the shopping cart of a food stamp household. But as many readers noted, what the story minimized was the fact that both households that are in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (known as SNAP) and those that are not make similar purchases. Further down in the piece:

Here are several reader notes in response to the story:

Here’s a journalist responding to the piece on Twitter:

And here’s a former Times reporter:

We went to Tara Parker-Pope, the editor of Well, for a response. She says the issue raised by readers — that people in most U.S. households, not just poor people, buy a lot of soda, sweetened beverages and junk food — was “a central theme in the story, and not only did we make sure it was addressed high in the story, it was an ongoing theme in the middle and end of the story as well.” She added, “That said, it’s a matter of discussion and debate whether a federally subsidized food program, designed to improve the nutrition of poor people, should allow junk food and soda just because everyone else eats it.”

The public editor’s take: I side with the readers on this one. It’s true that the article mentioned — well into the story — that households overall purchase about the same amount of sweetened drinks as SNAP households, but that wasn’t the way the story was framed. Furthermore, headlines matter, and this one said: “In the Shopping Cart of a Food Stamp Household: Lots of Soda.” That’s fairly loaded. And then there was that photograph of a shopping cart filled almost entirely with soda. (In fact, the story noted, 5 percent of the SNAP dollars spent on food goes to soft drinks.) The cutline under the photo? “A government report shows that sugary soda is the most popular item in the shopping carts of families that receive federal food stamps.” The purchases of food stamp households is a long-debated subject in political and policy circles. This piece didn’t do much to advance the discussion.

Staying on the popular topic of health, several readers took issue with The Times referring to the Affordable Care Act as Obamacare, arguing that the issue is too fraught to attach Obama’s name to the law.

There has been vacillation, however, over what to call the act, often among Democrats themselves, depending on its popularity. In 2013, President Obama affirmed he wanted the law to be referred to by his name. “We passed Obamacare — yes, I like the term — we passed it because I do care, and I want to put these choices in your hands where they belong,” he said.

We asked Phil Corbett, the associate managing editor for standards, for his take.

One story on Obamacare caught readers’ attention on account of its headline, which read: “Trump Promises ‘Insurance for Everybody’ as Health Law Replacement.”

With Donald Trump’s inauguration taking place today, it’s as good a time as any to remind journalists to stay vigilant in holding him accountable.

Another reader noted that the reporting on Volkswagen’s diesel scandal could use a deeper look in one area.

After we passed the note along to one of those reporters, Ewing, The Times’s European economics correspondent, he told us that this is indeed something the paper should be writing about. He also said:

Finally, The Times has found some closure with respect to the new first lady’s courtesy title. Last July, the public editor addressed why some women are referred to as “Ms.,” including Melania Trump, and some as “Mrs.” The public editor noted that Melania Trump had “yet to express a preference (thus the default ‘Ms.,’ although reporters have been asked to determine her preference).”

Now, however, the senior editor for standards, Greg Brock, tells the newsroom that the next first lady has expressed a preference: henceforth she will be referred to as Mrs. Trump in The Times’s pages.

Except in this column, of course, where we have done away with titles. She’ll be just “Trump.” And as for us, you can still call us Spayd and Gershkovich.