Networks Paint Bush Economy As Bleak No Matter What The Facts Really Say

Free Market Project ^ | 8/18/2005 | Amy Menefee

[CorbyCard]

Media’s bad news bears deliver negative news 62 percent of the time despite economic expansion.

* Economic news heavily negative: Coverage of economic news on the three broadcast networks was negative 62 percent of the time, despite ongoing good news of more jobs, low unemployment and economic growth.

* Good news undermined: Even when good news made it to viewers, journalists undermined it with bad news 45 percent of the time.

* Negative stories given more air time: Good news stories were relegated to briefs roughly two thirds of the time. Negative news received longer stories and outnumbered positive stories by almost 4-to-1 in that category.

Which do you want first – the good news or the bad?

The good news is that the economy is strong and growing. The bad news is the news about the economy.

[CorbyCard]

Nice study, worth reading.

[knightshadow]

I certainly appreciate your posting the stats, as it's good to see somebody documenting the bias. But I'm not at all surprised by the information. We have nothing more than a left-wing propaganda machine that masquerades as "mainstream" media. It's amazing so many Americans can still think rationally.

- knightshadow.

[CyberAnt]

Rush has been saying this for months. Plus on the Saturday morning money shows .. they have been so upbeat and still the other networks didn't seem to see what was happening.

Plus .. I've been getting economic updates from the RNC and it wasn't anything like what the MSM was saying.

I'm glad to see the word getting around.

[spinestein]

[Coverage of economic news on the three broadcast networks was negative 62 percent of the time, despite ongoing good news of more jobs, low unemployment and economic growth.]


I'm surprised it's that low.


I heard an interview with Peter Jennings from NPR's Fresh Air with Terri Gross from 1998, where Jennings admitted the truth about media bias. He said something like 'The bias from journalists is not really to be found within an individual story that you see on the news, but rather with the selection of just which stories to run'.

While I will quibble that there actually IS an awful lot of noticeable bias contained within an individual story, Jennings freely admitted that he, himself, had a left leaning agenda that manifested itself in story selection which advocates for positions he supports. He also included his network counterparts Cronkite, Brokaw, Rather, and other journalists at the same time.

[CorbyCard]

Now, that's the response: "I'm surprised it's that low."

[driftless]

Once again Americans are lied to by Big Media. I know liberals are stunned to realize that wealth increases from private sources and not government, but at least you'd think they'd have enough integrity to admit when things are going good. Instead they focus on a particular sector that might not be doing well and say "well, the economic picture looks bleak here in Mudbutte, Nevada".

I'm not shocked. In fact right after Bush got elected in 2000, I had a Dem co-worker wonder out loud if the economy was going in the tank because Republicans were in power. I asked him how he thought wealth was created. He apparently believes that only Dem politicians fiddling with a Ouija board make the economy hum. You'd be surprised how much of the ignorati believe that. Many also believe that Bush gets on the phone with oil execs to raise prices. And that of course the war in Iraq is for oil. Some dopes have even wondered why since we went there for oil, the price of gas hasn't gone down since the Iraq invasion. Rational explanations would be lost on these people.