MediaWatch: January 1992
Table of Contents:
Warren Brookes
Just last month I called economics columnist Warren Brookes to discuss a Philadelphia Inquirer series that had earned MediaWatch's Janet Cooke Award. As always, Brooks offered several powerful statistics to counter the liberal distortion of economic performance during the 1980s. So it came as a great shock to learn he had passed away from pneumonia at his Lovettsville, Virginia home just three days after Christmas.
Brookes began writing columns for the then Boston Herald American in the mid-1970s, becoming nationally syndicated just after President Reagan took office. He always gathered together statistics to disprove conventional wisdom spouted by liberal politicians and the media, making his columns an invaluable resource. In the late 1980s Brookes turned his attention to radical environmentalism, quoting scientific studies to debunk dire claims about acid rain and global warming forwarded by regulators and environmental activists.
We've collected a stack of Brookes columns which are packed with persuasive numbers and arguments still relevant for future MediaWatch articles. That no more will be written will make our job much harder. That we and so many other became so reliant upon Brookes is a tribute to the quality of his work. -- Brent Baker, Editor
