Are the media having an
Office
Space
moment? If they got the memo on consumer confidence, they sure
arent reporting it.
On April 25, The Conference Board reported that it found consumer
confidence at a four-year high. The network evening newscasts all
ignored the news, focusing instead on their continuing drumbeat
about high gas prices.
The
Associated Press
reported on April 25 that the Conference Board found that consumers
shrugged off higher gasoline prices in April and sent a widely
watched barometer of consumer confidence to its highest level in
four years.
The Conference Boards latest report mirrors a rise in another
consumer confidence index as measured by the Ipsos polling earlier
in
April.
The Business & Media Institute showed at that time
how the media ignored
good news.
While ignoring buoyant expectations by American consumers, all three
broadcast networks led with the pain at the pump.
NBCs Brian Williams opened the April 25 Nightly News insisting
that a nation of drivers and consumers does a slow burn over
another sudden sudden spike in the price of gas. ABCs Elizabeth
Vargas asked if President Bushs proposals to curb high gas prices
would be enough to help the people at the pump. Russ Mitchell,
substituting for Bob Schieffer on the CBS Evening News opened that
program asking if Bushs plans would have any real impact on
gasoline prices.
This latest move by the networks is similar
to how both ABC and NBC dealt with the three-year high June 28,
2005. The networks not only ignored the good news,
but ABC covered negative numbers twice as often as positive.