Article buries damning facts

It shows media bias when the important parts of an article are buried. The May 18 story, “Clinton discloses finances for 2015,” is an article in which we all have an interest, yet the pertinent facts were at the end: “Clinton’s speeches to Wall Street interests … spurred questions about her own lack of transparency”; and, “In all, Clinton made at least 94 appearances before corporate and other special interests,” are in the last two paragraphs.

A candidate’s sources of income help determine the amount of influence brought to bear on the candidate, or their veracity on other issues. Hence the important information should be in the lead.

The last paragraph also stated: “The Associated Press showed that almost all the 82 corporations, trade associations … that paid for or sponsored Clinton’s speeches have actively sought to sway the government - lobbying, bidding for contracts, commenting on federal policy and in some cases contacting State Department officials or Clinton herself during her tenure as secretary of state.”

In other words 87 percent of her speeches were to special interests.

Paragraph two (Bill Clinton) was totally irrelevant, and paragraphs four and five merely round out the article, but all of them appeared ahead of the meat of the story.

George Goss

Spokane