When Journalism Runs Amok People Suffer

According to the New York Times, when Forbes published a cover story recently by Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative author, asserting that President Obama is opposed to free markets and traditional American values because he inherited his father’s anticolonial beliefs, all the media tripwires were set off: enthusiastic support by conservative commentators like Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, and an uproar among liberal bloggers and columnists.

But after a meeting with the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, the magazine, which initially defended the article, agreed to a post-publication fact-checking process to see if an apology or a correction was warranted, according to Bill Burton, a White House spokesman. Monie Begley, a spokeswoman for Forbes, said that the magazine’s Washington bureau chief made the decision to check the article in response to the general clamor in the news media.

In one sense, the episode was a cautionary tale for the new media age, which finds traditional media outlets like Forbes responding both to the economic imperatives of the digital age by cutting staff and to the editorial imperatives by bringing in more outside voices — Mr. D’Souza is not a staff writer — and sometimes elevating opinion above rigorous reporting, says writer Tim Arango.

Those efforts are amplified by the country’s coarse political discourse, where everyone has a soapbox to advance theories — buttressed by the truth, or not, in the case of the so-called birther movement, which argues that President Obama is not a United States-born citizen — and facts are fought over as much as ideas.

The magazine issued a minor correction on its Web site, saying that Mr. D’Souza had “slightly misquoted” Mr. Obama from a speech he gave about the BP oil spill. Mr. D’Souza also said that Mr. Obama did not focus in the speech on “cleanup strategies.” Forbes’ correction stated, “Obama’s speech did discuss concrete measures to investigate the oil spill and bring it under control.” The Forbes spokeswoman said that the correction put an end to the magazine’s review of the matter.

The essay in Forbes was adapted from Mr. D’Souza’s book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage,” which is being published by Regnery Publishing and will be released on Oct. 4. Kathleen Sweetapple, a publicist for Regnery, e-mailed a statement on behalf of Mr. D’Souza, who wrote, “there are a couple of minor errors that are completely inconsequential; what the critics are fuming about are not factual errors but disagreements of interpretation.” In discrediting Mr. Obama’s American-ness, the essay by Mr. D’Souza, seemingly stitched some intellectual heft to what has long been a fringe idea of the far right — that Mr. Obama’s Kenyan roots and Hawaiian boyhood make him a lesser American. Mr. D’Souza offered as evidence Mr. Obama’s support for the Islamic center and mosque project near ground zero, even though the president has gone only so far as to say the developers have a constitutional right to build a mosque. Mr. Gingrich described Mr. D’Souza’s theory as “stunningly insightful,” while an editor at The Columbia Journalism Review called it, “the worst kind of smear journalism.”

One of the most contentious points in Mr. D’Souza’s article was his citation of a transaction by the Export-Import Bank of the United States to finance offshore drilling in Brazil, a deal Mr. D’Souza believes indicates Mr. Obama is more concerned with helping countries that formerly were the domains of colonial powers, rather than Americans. A Forbes fact checker recently contacted the bank to check on the assertion that Mr. Obama supported the 2009 transaction with Petrobras, Brazil’s state-owned oil company. Mr. D’Souza asserted that Mr. Obama supported the deal, “not so oil ends up in the U.S. He is funding Brazilian exploration so that the oil can stay in Brazil.”

A note written by Kevin Varney, the senior vice president and chief of staff of the bank, and posted in the comments section of Mr. D’Souza’s blog — and verified by a spokesman for the bank — criticized Mr. D’Souza for not contacting the bank before publication. “I received a call yesterday from Nathan Verdi, a fact checker at Forbes, who was calling to fact check your article after it was published. (Is this how journalism works now?)”

In an interview, Mr. Varney explained that the transaction “was begun in 2008 with career staffers and approved in 2009 by five Bush-appointed board members.” Mr. Varney said that to cite the deal as evidence of “an anticolonial, Kenyan ideology” on the part of Mr. Obama is “preposterous, it’s false and it’s wrong.”

10 Things Retailers Should Know

1. U.S. Hispanic spending power growth has significantly outpaced non-Hispanic with an average of $5 more per basket.
On average, Hispanics spend 13% more than GM consumer in the CPG category. As food plays an important role in Latino culture and they tend to have higher monthly food expenditures than non-Hispanics.
Hispanics also spend more than the GM on clothing because of their higher proportion of children and their younger demographic more prone to keep up with the latest trends. The average Latina has 11 pairs of jeans, while the average Caucasian female has nine.

2. Hispanics are quickly becoming the savviest of shoppers.
Hispanic women are significantly more aware (by a 48% to 36% margin) of "sales" before going to the store than GM shoppers.
Hispanics have always been savvy consumers and yet, the economic downfall has forced Latina moms to add new tactics to their repertoire like usage of coupons and in-store communications.
Although the current crisis hasn't affected Hispanics shopping patterns as drastically as the GM, Latinos are looking for partners that will help them navigate their current reality. Going forward, the key challenge for merchants is to redefine the consumer's value equation from "value = price" to "value = price + something else" (e.g., customer service, product's healthy attributes, designer exclusives).

3. Hispanic research and plan for each trip.
Hispanics plan their trips well -- more so than the GM population -- not only for what's needed, but also for the value that can be attained.
For Hispanics, the planning phase is important in organizing the shopping trip and controlling impulse purchases and budgets, not eliminating additional fill-in shopping (the general market's primary motivation is limiting the number of trips in a given time frame).

4. Hispanics are macro shopping.
Hispanic consumers are almost four times more likely than GM consumers to make their grocery shopping at mass merchandisers and mega stores.
Hispanic consumers travel significant distances to shop in these channels and spend considerable time and money in each visit, thus making large purchases and family-sized items a top priority for those shopping trips. Also, these mass merchandisers allow the consumers to shop for multiple-product categories.

5. Hispanics are not one-stop shoppers.
Hispanics significantly outpace the national spending averages across nearly every channel in CPG spending. The shopping experience plays a far more important role in their lives than for their non-Hispanic peers, making them a highly attractive segment for retailers. Hispanics are not only shopping to fulfill a list, but to fulfill different needs and experiences as well.

6. Hispanics enjoy the shopping experience.
37% of Hispanics "enjoy any kind of shopping" vs. 25% of non-Hispanics. No matter where, Hispanics report that shopping is a "feel good" experience. 53% of Hispanics evaluate their trip satisfaction on being "a fun place to shop," while, 43% of Hispanics "enjoy shopping even when they are not buying," vs. 37% of non-Hispanics. For retailers it is important to embrace the market by making store investments to become a FUN-shopping destination for Hispanics.

7. Shopping is not a chore.
"The store is a place where I can spend time with friends and family." Department - 50% Hisp. vs. 28% GM; Grocery - Hisp. 48% vs. 19% GM; Mass - Hisp. 46% vs. 24% GM; Drugstore - Hisp. 41% vs. 25% GM.
For Hispanics, shopping is a destination for meeting with friends and family, an opportunity to catch up and spend time together. Offering a more interactive environment allows retailers to become a preferred destination.

8. Advertising impacts and attracts Hispanics.
36% of Hispanics say that they remember advertised products while shopping. 31% say that ads help them pick products for their kids.
Hispanics tend to be more receptive to advertising and marketing efforts than GM. Another important aspect of advertising is retail promotions that in most cases will influence their decision to visit a particular store.
They are actively seeking choices that allow them to increase their brand selection with new and better products and advertising plays an important role in getting brands noticed and differentiated.

9. It is a myth that Hispanics, overall, are more loyal.
Only those Hispanics who are recent arrivals (fewer than four years in the US) display above average brand loyalty.
There is no conclusive proof to say, in general, that Hispanics are more loyal shoppers. Retailer loyalty is strong among Hispanics but it pertains mainly to the store of choice, based on the need. Continued loyalty relies on value offer, product quality, and experience consistency.

10. Hispanics are quickly adopting online shopping.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Hispanic Internet users are buying online. Retail initiatives for Hispanics have been primarily focused on brick and mortar, but the time has come to expand initiatives to the virtual shopping world. In 2007, Hispanic online purchases accounted for $12.8 billion, 11% of all online retail spending. Furthermore, Hispanics are more likely to provide online feedback: 34% vs. 27% of non-Hispanics.

Now it is imperative that brands and retailers offer the opportunity for online purchases. Additionally, this will open up a whole new avenue for building a brand relationship through online activations and promotions. It also multiplies the impact through digital word of mouth via consumer feedback.