Both main parties are accused of misleading voters on tax and spend. Pretty shameful as we approach the election. So how was it reported this morning?
Five Conservative-supporting papers majored on the IFS's criticisms of Labour's promise that only the top 5% of earners would pay more tax.
The Mail did at least run a separate story on the IFS's qualms about the Conservative manifesto - that it would almost certainly have to put up taxes and increase borrowing to fulfil its spending plans, in spite of promise of a five-year tax freeze. Even without the paper's political stance, it's hard to argue against the news judgment that the IFS saying "many millions more" would have to pay more tax under Labour is the more compelling line.
The Telegraph did not mention the scepticism about Tory promises until the sixth of eleven paragraphs, and gave the examination of the Conservative manifesto a total of three sentences.
The Times acknowledged in its second par that the IFS - and the Resolution Foundation i a separate report - had looked at both manifestos, but did not get to the doubts about the Conservative promises until the ninth of its 13 paragraphs and then gave them a single sentence.
Express and Sun readers were left to think that only Labour promises had been examined and found wanting.
The Mail did at least run a separate story on the IFS's qualms about the Conservative manifesto - that it would almost certainly have to put up taxes and increase borrowing to fulfil its spending plans, in spite of promise of a five-year tax freeze. Even without the paper's political stance, it's hard to argue against the news judgment that the IFS saying "many millions more" would have to pay more tax under Labour is the more compelling line.
The Telegraph did not mention the scepticism about Tory promises until the sixth of eleven paragraphs, and gave the examination of the Conservative manifesto a total of three sentences.
The Times acknowledged in its second par that the IFS - and the Resolution Foundation i a separate report - had looked at both manifestos, but did not get to the doubts about the Conservative promises until the ninth of its 13 paragraphs and then gave them a single sentence.
Express and Sun readers were left to think that only Labour promises had been examined and found wanting.
Three papers - the i, Guardian and Metro - took a neutral stance, focusing on the "plague on both your houses" line. The Guardian swiftly moved into the criticisms of the Conservative plans, giving that the top half of the story, with a passing acknowledgement that the attack on Labour was "scathing" before returning to that further down.
The i, yet again, was completely even-handed - apparently the only paid-for Fleet Street paper capable of being so - to the extent that it spelt out the IFS verdicts on various aspects of the manifestos under separate headings in a sidebar.
Metro also went straight down the line with equal to-the-point coverage of the two parties in its brief story.
The i, yet again, was completely even-handed - apparently the only paid-for Fleet Street paper capable of being so - to the extent that it spelt out the IFS verdicts on various aspects of the manifestos under separate headings in a sidebar.
Metro also went straight down the line with equal to-the-point coverage of the two parties in its brief story.
The Mirror meanwhile ignored the story altogether. Unless you count a sentence at the end of an anti-Johnson story saying "His plans to invest in public services have been criticised by experts for their lack of ambition."
Which experts and where are not explained. I rather suspect it was neither the IFS nor the Resolution Foundation.
Which experts and where are not explained. I rather suspect it was neither the IFS nor the Resolution Foundation.