LA Times Owner Blames US Economic Problems on Clinton and Obama
For years, NewsBusters and the Business and Media Institute have informed readers about how the press, since George W. Bush was first elected, have tried to create a self-fulfilling prophecy by misrepresenting economic data in as negative a way as possible.This is likely the cause of the public's continued pessimism about economic conditions even as the economy has expanded for 25 consecutive…
AP Article on States' Budget Woes Ignores Spending Excesses
Old Media coverage of government budget difficulties usually focuses on the here and now, and all the "tough decisions" that have to be made. Seldom is there ever an examination of how a state or local government entity got into its current fix. Scratch just a little bit beneath the surface, though, and you'll almost inevitably find that an annoying habit of overspending during the good times…
Old Media Lets Obama's Shaky CEO Earnings Claim Go Unchallenged
It's an extraordinarily clever claim. It gets your attention. It's misleading. And of course, Old Media isn't questioning it. I am referring to the following statement made by Barack Obama in radio ads currently running in Ohio and Texas: Some CEOs make more in 10 minutes than some American workers make in a year. In the full context of the ad, I believe that what Obama wants listeners to…
A McCain Coincidence? NYT Stock Nosedived Thursday and Friday
During the four weeks preceding February 20, New York Times Company stock had been staging a nice comeback. Lord only knows that the company's long-suffering shareholders, who before then had seen the share price drop more than 70% since June 2002, a point in time that roughly coincides with the onset of the Old Gray Lady's seemingly intractable case of Bush Derangement Syndrome, welcomed any…
NYT’s Warped Sense of 'Average
Perhaps the average New York Times reader makes $250,000 a year, but the average American family? Not quite.And yet the Times, and its media colleagues, continue to feature sob stories from rich families in stories supposed to illustrate the pain the housing “crisis” is causing for middle- and lower-income families. “Not since the Depression has a larger share of Americans owed more on their…
'World News' on Raul Castro: 'Economic Reforms' or Drug Running
With the symbolic passing of the torch - from Fidel Castro to Raul Castro - comes hope of changes in Cuba, well at least among some in the media. Even though no one is predicting Cuba to usher in a new wave of Adam Smith-style capitalism, there might be some changes according to ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." "[H]e's talking about significant reforms - liberalizing trade, economic…
Dobbs Rants About Safety Chief’s Remarks; Calls Her 'Imbecilic
No one has ever accused Protectionist-in-Chief and CNN host Lou Dobbs of being one to exercise discretion when something has ticked him off. The host of “Lou Dobbs Tonight” blew up after interview after CNN correspondent Christine Romans interviewed Nancy Nord, chairman of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, on his a February 18 show. “This – Nord, is she as imbecilic as…
NBC’s Missed Prediction: $4 Gas by Mid-February
Early last month, when oil prices flirted with inflation-adjusted record highs, fears of sky-high gas prices were filtered through the media. CNBC's Erin Burnett gave viewers a frightening prediction of $4-a-gallon gasoline during a January 2 appearance on the NBC "Nightly News." The "Street Signs" anchor cited John Kilduff, the vice president of risk management at the MF Global Ltd.…
CBS’s Safer: U.S. Should Be More Like Denmark
On Sunday’s "60 Minutes," anchor Morley Safer did a segment on Demark being ranked the happiest country in world consistently for the past three decades and wondered: "What makes a Dane so happy? And why isn't he wallowing in misery and self doubt like so many of the rest of us?" Later in the segment, Safer discovered that low expectations of the Danish people was the key to their happiness and…
Old Media Again Lets Clinton Take Credit for 1990s Economy
I see that Bill Clinton is once again taking credit for the "good things" that happened in the 1990s, as Jack Tapper at ABC's Political Punch reports: "There are two competing moods in America today," Clinton said. "People who want something fresh and new -- and they find it inspiring that we might elect a president who literally was not part of any of the good things that happened or any of the…
Ann Curry to Bush: Americans Are 'Suffering' Because of War
During a live interview with the President and the First Lady from Africa on Monday's "Today" show, NBC's Ann Curry pestered Bush about the Iraq war and its economic effect on Americans as she told the President: "I mean they say they're suffering because of this war." ANN CURRY: But you're saying you're gonna have to carry that burden, you're saying you're gonna have to carry that burden. Some…
AP Maximizes Negativity in Covering Realtors' Housing Report
Granted, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) is a trade organization which will, as trade organizations do, try to put the best face on a bad situation. And granted, part of the press's job is to filter through hype and false sunniness to report the truth of what's really going on. But that is most emphatically not what the Associated Press did with yesterday's NAR report on the state of…
Fox Biz’s Claman: ‘We’re Nowhere Near the Great Depression
Vice President of the Business & Media Institute Dan Gainor outlined the media's failure in covering consumer confidence numbers in a February 15 appearance on the Fox Business Network."What we're talking about, instead of consumer confidence, we're talking about media competence," Gainor said. "Last year, July was the six-year high for consumer confidence and yet if you watch any one of the…
