Letter to the Editor, I think that articles submitted to The Beacon from The Mackinac Center for Public Policy should be labeled as “opinion,” not presented as factual news stories.

According to sourcewatch.com, The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a right-wing pressure group that was established by right-wing activists in 1987 to promote “free market,” pro-business policies.

Sourcewatch states that leading academics have criticized the Center, saying that “Mackinac Center research is often of low quality and because of this it should be treated with considerable skepticism by the public, policy makers and political leaders.”

The latest submission by the Center referenced The Fraser Institute as a source. According to mediabiasfactcheck. com. The Fraser Institute is one of several media sources that has a right-center bias and often publishes factual information that utilizes loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes) to favor conservative causes. Overall, they rate the Fraser Institute as “strongly right-center biased” based on the institute’s policy positions that favor business and state that the Institute’s “factual” reporting often makes false and misleading claims. Marilynn Bachorik Munising