One might say this article was politically fair, but only because it ignored the issues completely and focused exclusively on economics, and those of the newspaper industry at that, not the medical marijuana industry itself. For an issue on many ballots in November, and one over which much of America is divided for reasons mostly stemming from low-quality information, this article did not do much to advance its audience's understanding.

Writing an article about how medical marijuana ads can increase the revenue of a local newspaper organization can be very controversial, but The New York Times does a wonderful job of clearly stating on exists in Colorado, a state that has legalized the distribution of marijuana for medical purposes. Keeping this report in the conversation in the context of Colorado (Colorado Springs, in particular) makes it easy for an anti-marijuana NY Times subscriber to still read the article informed. Also, the author of this article makes it very clear that the context of this particular "pot business boom" is only relevant to one local Colorado paper: The Independent. The context is very clear throughout the entire report. The data ... More »