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jbenton's profile
Joshua Benton
Joshua Benton
Joshua Benton
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@jbenton

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Joshua BentonVerified account

@jbenton

Senior writer + founder of @NiemanLab at @Harvard. I write about (a) digital journalism, (b) southern history, mostly. Proud Cajun. Takes mine, not Harvard's.

Greater Boston
joshuabenton.com
Joined December 2006

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    Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 7 Jul 2019

    The @nytimes is a glorious and critical institution. But how ABSOLUTELY INSANE is it that its vision of the struggling middle class is someone making $200-400K in a Pennsylvania small town? https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/05/opinion/middle-class-families.html …pic.twitter.com/91jDCAfebK

    6:56 PM - 7 Jul 2019
    • 1,110 Retweets
    • 3,282 Likes
    • Hannah shoulda retired JMSaa Thomas W. liege orange in their second castle B 💊Aspirin💊 Abby Luuk
    141 replies 1,110 retweets 3,282 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 7 Jul 2019

        This particular person makes that sum in the town of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, where the median household income is $54K. So she is at 4x to 8x her typical neighbor.pic.twitter.com/CAMKunSK0d

        10 replies 76 retweets 562 likes
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      3. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 7 Jul 2019

        Or take this couple making $200-400K in Austin, Minnesota (median household income: $33K), where they spend "$91,000 on day care and household help," including a nannypic.twitter.com/3vh3dvj7Zf

        12 replies 74 retweets 465 likes
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      4. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 7 Jul 2019

        The "middle class" "everyday Americans" the @nytimes chose to highlight here have household incomes of: $120-200K $120-200K $200-400K $200-400K $75-100K $120-200K $120-200K The median US household income is $61,000.

        31 replies 592 retweets 2,136 likes
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      5. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 7 Jul 2019

        Just imagine, for a moment, if we had an elite journalism institution of the Times' caliber that saw the US income distribution as it really is.

        16 replies 103 retweets 1,069 likes
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      6. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 8 Jul 2019

        Update: One of the people profiled in the story, @fletchermac, has written a thoughtful response https://www.rationalpessimism.com/2019/07/reaction-to-reaction-to-story.html …

        12 replies 45 retweets 290 likes
        Show this thread
      7. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        Update: The @nytimes has noticed people talking about this story and written a response. Give it a read: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/09/reader-center/middle-class-families.html … Let me know if you find it satisfying. I do not!

        4 replies 6 retweets 35 likes
        Show this thread
      8. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        The headline: "Can a Middle-Class Family Earn $200,000? Yes, Our Editor Explains" No one is saying it's *impossible* for someone who makes $200K to be middle class! What I'm saying is that people who make that much money ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS.

        1 reply 4 retweets 77 likes
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      9. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        The NYT piece notes there is not one universally accepted definition of "middle class." That's true! We can probably agree that neither Jeff Bezos nor the homeless are middle class, but there'll be arguments in between. Let's look at some definitions!pic.twitter.com/QeAwMX9aBD

        1 reply 0 retweets 27 likes
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      10. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        The good folks at @pewresearch use this definition: everyone between 2/3 and 2x the median national income, adjusted for household size. By that measure, 52% of Americans are middle class. 19% are above that and 29% are below. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/06/the-american-middle-class-is-stable-in-size-but-losing-ground-financially-to-upper-income-families/ …pic.twitter.com/dlxXI9NK0s

        2 replies 3 retweets 32 likes
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      11. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        Using that measure, the median lower-class household makes $26K a year, the median middle-class household makes $78K, and the median upper-class household makes $187K.pic.twitter.com/2Ws9UDPhSo

        2 replies 0 retweets 27 likes
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      12. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        For a three-person household, that means the income cutoffs for the middle class are $45,200 and $135,600.

        2 replies 0 retweets 18 likes
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      13. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        Other definitions, here gathered by Brookings, find different numbers but the same general ballpark. The economist Alan Krueger (who sadly died earlier this year) used the broader $35K-$104K. MIT's Lester Thurow liked the narrower $52K-$87K. https://www.brookings.edu/research/defining-the-middle-class-cash-credentials-or-culture/ …pic.twitter.com/8LZg0bkOdK

        1 reply 0 retweets 24 likes
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      14. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        And of course there are people who prefer definitions that are either radically different (say, that only the idle rich are truly "upper class") or that are completely divorced from income (say, a college degree, a managerial or professional job, home ownership, etc.).

        1 reply 0 retweets 19 likes
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      15. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        So I'm completely open to arguments that any one of the people in this story might be "middle class" by some definition — or that they feel "middle class" themselves, which is of course their right.

        1 reply 0 retweets 16 likes
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      16. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        But it was the @nytimes that decided how to frame this story — to declare this selection of people "middle-class families" and "everyday Americans." Even if these people are all middle class, they are still not *representative* of the American middle class.pic.twitter.com/WAprUYR2BH

        1 reply 2 retweets 37 likes
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      17. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        A reminder, again, that these are the income ranges of the 7 people profiled. $120-200K $120-200K $200-400K $200-400K $75-100K $120-200K $120-200K And that the middle-class ranges reached by smart economists are $45-135K, $35-104K, and $52-87K.

        2 replies 1 retweet 41 likes
        Show this thread
      18. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        The Times says more than 500 people submitted their info for this story, "with widely varied incomes." But when they went to pick who would represent "being middle class in America," "everyday Americans," they picked people a lot closer to "everyday New York Times subscribers."

        2 replies 4 retweets 62 likes
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      19. Joshua Benton‏Verified account @jbenton 9 Jul 2019

        One last thought: This is the sort of moment we really miss having a public editor at the Times. A public editor could listen to the Twitter cranks like me, listen to the Times’ explanation, and then try to evaluate both sides critically.

        4 replies 8 retweets 73 likes
        Show this thread
      20. End of conversation

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