My father belonged to a construction workers' union. My mother was a member of a union for seamstresses. I'm a founding member of the Milwaukee Newspaper Guild that represents employees in the newsroom. I didn't have to join the union; I choose to do so. So I guess you could say I'm a union kind of guy. So are lots of other people, and for them union membership isn't about secret handshakes or monogrammed jackets. It's about a guarantee of fair wages, workplace safety, sick leave and health benefits.

MetroPCS, termed "Ghettro PCS" by many low-income black and latino subscribers, specifically targets its low-cost plans at low-income consumers. On its face, that sounds great. But here's the catch: MetroPCS's cheapest packages block phone users from access to the full internet, allowing them to use only a few sites, like Facebook and YouTube. Why can't low-income phone users get great service at low cost without blocking their access to the whole internet?

For too long, mainstream journalism has pulled its punches. Admirably dedicated to fairness, balance, not picking winners and losers, it too often settled for "on the one hand, on the other hand" stories that left readers in the dark. Clearly it's important to be impartial. But that doesn't mean treating both sides of the argument equally when one is demonstrably false, or even deeply flawed. To treat everything equally is to create a false equivalency. And that really shortchanges the readers.