I came across the following headline:
Unemployment Extension Fails: Senate Rejects Jobless Benefits 58-38
Actually, though, the Senate voted 58-38 in favor of the bill. But the opponents did a filibuster. Here’s another try:
Congress Fails to Pass an Extension of Jobless Aid
But it’s still not clear that the vote was strongly in favor—not even close, in fact. A better headline, I think, would be:
Senate Vote on Unemployment Extension: 58-38 in Favor, Not Enough to Beat Filibuster
Or maybe someone more journalistic than I can come up with something better?
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“Republican minority block filibuster?
The first headline is misleading, but the second one is fine. It does seem like it should be “Senate Fails to Pass” rather than “Congress” though.
Was there technically a filibuster? Or did they just come up short on the votes needed to avert one?
Derek: I assume there was a filibuster–otherwise, a vote of 58-38 would’ve passed the bill, no? But I don’t really know.
Sorry, kind of a meaningless technical question on my part. I’m under the impression that actual filibusters are pretty rare these days. It’s simply the implied result of a failed cloture vote, which no one really wants so they have the vote and go on about their other business, no phone book reading required.
Again, doesn’t really matter, but could make a difference in a news headline.
As Jon Bernstein has been harping on lately, insisting on a cloture vote is the same thing as filibustering, even if Mr. Smith never takes to the floor and reads the phone book.
Thank you for the heads-up on his blog. It’s good reading.
I think, however, that his recent post calling on reporters to say “filibuster” simply makes the point that this is an unsettled issue and it’s one where the media’s conception of fairness may be opposed to an individual’s perception of the underlying truth of the situation.
Again, it’s not really that important, but I do PR for a living, I write a lot of press releases and struggle with a lot of headlines, and I try to avoid language that would make a reporter say, “Weeeelllll, that’s not technically true.”
And with that I’ll sheepishly go back to lurking and learning.
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