Garden State Goober

by: huntsu

Mon Apr 09, 2007 at 09:18:10 PM EDT

Today's edition has to do with the almost year-old ban on smoking in workplaces, including restaurants and bars.

Here's what was written in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Deborah Dowdell, president of the New Jersey Restaurant Association, says hundreds of restaurants, bars and taverns have seen sales decline, by as much as 50 percent; others have closed in the last year.

Here's how Ingle chose to interpret that remark:

Deborah Dowdell, president of the New Jersey Restaurant Association, says the result is hundreds of restaurants, bars and taverns have seen sales cut in half while others will be forced to close.

In the Inqy version, Dowdell says "sales decline, as much as 50 percent" and in Ingle's version it says "seen sales cut in half."  See the difference?

Ingle should go back to high school to learn some basic math about sets.  "As much as 50 percent" includes everything from 1 percent to 50 percent.  "Sales cut in half" includes 50 percent only.

The difference between one percent and 50 percent may not mean much to Bob Ingle, but I am pretty willing to bet that a business owner could tell the difference.

What makes it worse is that this is exactly what the Restaurant Association wanted to happen, and they knew they could rely on the Bob Ingles of the world to either intentionally or incompetently spin the issue their way.