Kim Hart

"The government's billion-dollar program to help people prepare for the transition to digital television has run out of money, potentially leaving millions of viewers without coupons to buy converter boxes they need to keep their analog TV sets working after the switch."

Thus began Washington Post staffer Kim Hart's January 6 Business section front-pager, "TV Converter Program Runs Out of Funding." Hart promptly went into noting that "[m]embers of Congress are now scrambling to find ways to allocate more money to the program," yet took no effort in her 13-paragraph story to find critics of the program who could say, in effect, "See, I told you so."

"This is typical of a government that doesn’t measure real results to determine a project’s success," Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) Vice President David Williams told NewsBusters via e-mail:

It's a looming crisis for the country's aged, worthy of front-page coverage in today's Washington Post.

Is it the classic pay the heating bill or buy groceries quandary? No. The media-hyped dilemma of whether to buying gasoline or fill prescriptions? Good guess, but no. It's, wait for it, millions of elderly people with equally elderly TV sets facing a boob tube-less doomsday come next February!

I know what you're thinking. "Isn't there a government handout in the works so that people can get buy digital converters for their analog sets?"

How heartless of you! Post staffer Kim Hart explains why this program is just not enough.: