Press: Friendly Fire

Friedman shells Newsweek

The published letter to the editor from House Republican Leader Robert Michel of Illinois was tough: "If I were the editor of Newsweek, I would have rejected the 'rich-poor' theme [of an April 5 cover story on poverty in the U.S.] as simplistic, distorted and unacceptable." Headlined REAGAN'S AMERICA: AND THE POOR GET POORER, the Newsweek story contended that Administration policies were increasing both the total numbers and the suffering of disadvantaged Americans. The article prompted more than 900 letters, "most of them con," Newsweek Editor Lester Bernstein said last week. "We obviously struck a nerve."

The most stinging protest came from Conservative Economist Milton Friedman in his column for Newsweek. Describing the story as "misleading," he accused the magazine of "treating hoary cliches as received truths" and misinterpreting facts.

Newsweek printed the column without demurrer. Said Bernstein: "He [Friedman] felt strongly about it. He has a column. He was entitled. But we do not think we were wrong: the data demonstrated that Reagan policy so far was increasing the number of people below the poverty line."