If CPSIA is so horrible, why haven’t I seen it on the news?
There are many reasons why a story like CPSIA would not be considered newsworthy or would not be covered adequately.
First, there are a lot of other important things going on in the world. The news editors have to choose the highlights, and let’s face it, a highly technical law about product safety can’t compete with wars and such.
Second, CPSIA is hard to understand. Chances are if you’ve come to this site, you’ve discovered that for yourself. Well, reporters aren’t some kind of super-humans; they find it confusing too.
Third, when reporters find things confusing, like most people they turn to a trusted source to explain it to them. In this case, most reporters’ trusted sources are the very same legislators and special interest groups who helped write CPSIA. These sources assure them that the law is a sound one and the criticisms of it are overblown. Who would tell a reporter that there’s something wrong with what they themselves wrote?
Finally, few reporters have time to get the complete story. It takes a lot of work to interview enough people to discover the full impact of CPSIA. Reporters usually have deadlines they have to meet, and there’s only so many people they can interview in that amount of time.
