Dear Editor:
This letter is in regard to the article “Program Provides Volunteer Prospect” which appeared in the April 19 edition of the East Tennessean.
Although I commend the efforts of the persons involved in the “Give and Gain Clothe America Campaign” and the efforts of the reporter covering the story, I take exception to the statistics used to support the cause. The article states that “More than 250 million Americans” live in poverty. Assuming that the author is referring to U.S. residents and not persons living on the continents of North and South America, this is a figure off by an order of magnitude.
There are only slightly more than 284 million people living in the United States as of April 1, 2000 (source: U.S. Census Bureau Web site – www.census.gov) which would leave just under 12 percent of our population living above the poverty level.
The actual percentage of people living below the poverty level in 1999 (the last year for which the U.S. Census Bureau has statistics posted) is 11.8 percent or roughly 33 million people.
Most people who are still reading this are probably saying, “So what? Who cares?” and the reporter in question is probably cursing me even as we speak, but I want to point out that many of us rely on newspapers to provide us with these kinds of vital statistics.
Furthermore, errors of this sort and magnitude provide fuel for those who would say that problems such as poverty, hunger, and homelessness in the United States are exaggerated by a liberally-biased media. I know mistakes happen, but an extra effort to catch wildly misstated figures such as this one is entirely appropriate.
Hanley Loller
Editor’s Note: We regret the error. At the East Tennessean, we strive for fairness accuracy, and encourage comment when we do err. However, no bias entered into this mistake.

Author