Early Show's Misleading Graphic: 'Household Income Drops 79%'

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By Mark Finkelstein (Bio | Archive)
December 9, 2008 - 07:49 ET
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This could go down as the most egregiously misleading graphic in morning show history.  Have a look at the screengrab. Reporting on census data being released today, the Early Show on CBS displayed a graphic, under the headline "Economic Crisis," reporting that in the first part of this decade--the early Bush years:

  • Household income dropped 79%
  • The poverty rate increased 70%
  • Unemployment was up 71%

What??  If those number were true, they would reflect a depression making the 1930s look like life on easy street.

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In fact, the percentages are not of absolute declines, but in the percentage of communities experiencing any decline.  In other words, according to census data, household income dropped in 79% of cities and towns, the poverty rate increased in 70% of communities, and unemployment increased in 71% of them.

Russ Mitchell, reporting on the survey, stated things accurately with respect to two of the parameters, but misrepresented the third. And the graphic wasn't merely misleading, it was dead wrong.  Many viewers were surely misled into believing that the economy was in crisis for much of the Bush administration.

RUSS MITCHELL: Census figures released this morning show the trouble in Detroit is just part of a far-reaching economic downturn in this country that began in the beginning of the decade.  The numbers I'm about to give you represent trends in the first five years of the new century: median household income dropped in 79% of cities and towns, poverty rates increased in 70%. Unemployment was up 71%.

So Mitchell got it right with respect to household income and the poverty rate.  But regarding unemployment, he flatly stated that it "was up 71%," rather than up in 71% of communities, as the data indicated.

CBS needs to correct its egregious error promptly. Will it?

—Mark Finkelstein is a NewsBusters contributing editor and host of Right Angle. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net.


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The purpose of

December 9, 2008 - 07:57 ET by 10ksnooker

The news media is to propagandize -- The Politburo will reward with bailouts.

Just another move to re-write history.

December 9, 2008 - 08:01 ET by auldsailor362

The "blame it all on Bush" crowd is in full cry. Inacurate, or downright lying in the press, print or TV is the name of the game and will get worse since when Obamas' shortcomings become so blatent they cannot be ignored so called 'journalists' will bend fact to insure 'it's all Bush's fault'. Thank heavens for internet where facts can be found (though sometimes you really have to search), this site helps considerably, thank you NewBusters.

Lies, dam lies and

December 9, 2008 - 08:01 ET by USA4freedom

Lies, dam lies and statistics 

 

Ronald Reagan, 1962: I did not leave the Democratic party, the party left me.

Insert: your name, 2008, and the Republican party.

 

Wow.  So the death rate in

December 9, 2008 - 08:02 ET by HockeyKid

Wow.  So the death rate in America last year was 100%.   Times are tough on the Early Show.

"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me

CBS doesn't need to correct

December 9, 2008 - 08:07 ET by NL207

CBS doesn't need to correct this petty error in reporting.  It needs to retract the entire story and change its journalistic and editorial policies. 

A story like this, reporting such misleading information, even if t had been reported 100% accurately, does nothing to correctly inform the listening / viewing publc about the true state of affairs.   I would ues that the declines in properity likely occurred in SMALL communities.  The 30% that INCREASED might represent 70% of the population, but viewers would never know that.  I don't know that. 

CBS has done nothing with this story o actually inorm th public.  It instead actively sought to deceive the public.

The election of Obama has

December 9, 2008 - 08:19 ET by Hunter12

The election of Obama has been and will continue to be a drag on the economy, until he reneges on his pledge to tax the small business owners to redistribute their wealth to his constitutents.  What the press is trying to do is shift as much of this burden as they can to the Bush administration.  To those that say these figures are from months prior to the election, I'll point to that brief uptick in the markets when there was a belief that McCain was gaining on Obama.  This spiral started when Obama went ahead, accelerated when he first confronted Joe the Plumber, and has sharpened since he won the presidency.  Paint as much as you can black now, so that any little ray of light from the Obama term will shine that much brighter against a dark background. 

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."  - Sir Winston Churchill

I believe you are

December 9, 2008 - 11:10 ET by NL207

I believe you are corrsct.  The actions of the MSM are either those of utter incompetents or the utterly unethical.  There is no other reasonable way to interpret what they are doing.

Did you ever get the

December 9, 2008 - 08:20 ET by billb

Did you ever get the impression that it "rains Kennedys?" Yet another one...Caroline! The MSM is all agog over this latest iteration of the the fabeled monarchy. This same MSM that would have you believe that Sara Palin had a thin resume!

in the future

December 9, 2008 - 08:21 ET by Gunnar

After Obama is in office, what will be really interesting is when the economy makes any sort of uptick, no matter how minor, the media will report it as happy days are here again. Unemployment will magically go up 71% along with household incomes, etc.

I'm still amazed at the absolute silence from big media in regards to Obama's addictions. Both his former cocaine use and his cigarette addiction. Were he a republican we'd be seeing all kinds of pics of him smoking with questions raised about his capacity as a role model. 

"Amazed," Gunnar?

December 9, 2008 - 08:42 ET by Indiana Joe

C'mon, you should be used to it by now. What would be "amazing" would be if they held Obama (or any Dem, for that matter) to the same standards they hold Reps (or us!) to.

I'm not amazed. Just disgusted.

 

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who

Gunnar, That is why he

December 9, 2008 - 10:35 ET by Scuba Dude

Gunnar,

That is why he will always be coke-head Obama to me.  If he can't kick the cigarette addiction why should we believe he still doesn't do a little blow?

CBS should retract their network

December 9, 2008 - 08:24 ET by pearl

Ban the NY Media

This is of a piece with the

December 9, 2008 - 08:39 ET by Indiana Joe

This is of a piece with the new definition for "recession." When the facts don't support the story you want to tell, simply re-define what constitutes a "fact." It's shameful propaganda, purposely misleading, and completely irresponsible.

This is why most Americans are woefully uninformed. The same media that constantly bemoans that fact are actually the cause of it.

"The most trusted name in news?" Must be Opposite Day.

 

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who

Reading Assignment

December 9, 2008 - 08:47 ET by BlueCat57

Thomas Sowell - Economic Facts and Fallacies has a whole chapter on income statistics. That means the media is either lying or too stupid to understand the information. Vote now:

a. Lying

b. Too Stupid

c. All of the above

Actually there's a saying I

December 10, 2008 - 00:17 ET by Dave D

Actually there's a saying I like about this,

 

Those that can do, those that can't teach and those that can't even teach become journalists.

Nonsense

December 9, 2008 - 08:56 ET by Vonu

If CBS wanted to scare people all they would have to do was to report that gold is in backwardation and the Comex is on the verge of default. Then let the chips fall where they may.

 http://meltdown2011.wordpress.com/category/silver-gold/vaporize-comex-countdown/

Me too

December 9, 2008 - 09:19 ET by JWF

  Household income has risen 100% at the address listed on the block where I live.

  Employment is 100% at the housenumber where I reside on the street where I maintain an abode.

  Home value is unknown at the specific listed number of the house I claim as primary residence. I have not had it appraised since I bought it in 2004.

  Poverty rate is 0% at the house to the left of the house to the right of where I claim ownership.

Sincerely,

a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.

 This is so typical of

December 9, 2008 - 11:33 ET by Tailgunner

 This is so typical of liberal media that they must teach it at Columbia.

They know that many people only 'see' the news (headlines, screenshots, graphics) and fewer take the time to learn the entire story.

This outrageously dishonest factoid is going to be the only thing taken away from the story for many.

They can add all the fine print or disclaimers they want, but they've accomplished their objective; to indoctrinate millions of ignorant people worldwide. 

NOLI PUGNARE ME OCCIDERE

Shadow Government Statistics

December 9, 2008 - 11:49 ET by PopularTech

The numbers the Government puts out are not what you think. I agree Stewart is a stoner loser who makes up facts but there is a case to be made that what we are being told is not the whole truth.

Shadow Government Statistics

Censored Global Warming Videos

Mark... AP story contained the key to understanding the crisis

December 9, 2008 - 14:00 ET by Gary Hall

Mark... the AP story contained the key to understanding.. the numbers (my bold, here and there):

"The year 2000 was at the end of an incredible boom that lasted a decade," Hoyt said.

Incomes were up, unemployment was down and the dot-com bubble had not yet burst on Wall Street.

Well, even that acknowledgement is a push. The dot-com bubble had crashed, but the trickle down effect does take a bit of time to be reflected in the Census Bureau surveys. March, 2000 is the generally accepted date of that historic event, however, the broad economy had turned over in the 2 years preceding the crash.

Understanding the depth of media bias explains this - but it is very interesting that the clearest political presentation of these past two - and very connected - economic crisis - comes from the far left, itself.

March, 2000 - Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research said:

The main feature of the 'new economy' is a stock market bubble of unprecedented magnitude. When the bubble bursts, the new economy will just be a bad memory. .. What are you going to tell people who lose much of their retirement savings in their 401K when there's a downturn?

Well, if you're the MSM, you play it down, then wait a few years and blame it all on the next guy in the white house. 

March, 2001 Baker said:

 .. The nation's political leaders [Clinton era] chose to ignore the stock market bubble ..As a result, millions of families have seen their dreams of a secure retirement or their children's college education vanish with the stock market bubble. The level of negligence of the nation's political leaders in ignoring the stock bubble exceeds anything since the days of Herbert Hoover.

I note - that while by 2003 it became very popular in the MSM to apply the Hoover analysis to President Bush, the label was already attached to one, President Bill Clinton, and the attachment was performed by a socialist economist whom the MSM loves and respects very much.  

Nov. 10, 2008 Baker said:

Rather than handing George Bush a booming economy, Clinton handed over an economy that was propelled by an unsustainable stock bubble and distorted by a hugely over-valued dollar...

Well, technically, even Baker is starting to revise the dates here. The economy had long lost the propellent and the market had crashed and the economy was crashing prior to it being handed over to President Bush. 

Baker went on to summarize his view of how we all got here. I can't say that I agree with Baker's leftist view of economics, but I commend him for calling ducks, ducks as he sees it:

..While the Bush administration must take responsibility for the current crisis (they have been in power the last eight years), the stage was set during the Clinton years. The Clinton team set the economy on the path of one-sided financial deregulation and bubble driven growth that brought us where we are today...

Even Al Gore knew the truth..  Al Gore on Hardball, Dec. 11, 2002, repudiating Chris Matthews revision of very recent economic history. Matthews had claimed that "we had excellent economic numbers right thru 2000..":

GORE: It’s an interesting analysis. You know, the markets started down, the economy started down in March of 2000..

Amazingly, Gore was right; Most, if not all, of the economic numbers had sharply reversed early in, if not before 2000.

... and on top of all that we had the Clinton/HUD/Obama endorsed Government pushed housing bubble and resulting credit crisis. (;~> gary

Oh, this one is easy to explain...

December 9, 2008 - 15:35 ET by retrocon

This is good.

See, now when ACTUAL income drops 50%, poverty increases 60%, and unemployment is actually AT 70% by 2011, they can say:

"Under the Obama Administration, income has dropped 29% less, poverty 10% less, and unemployment has improved 1% over the failed and miserable Bush years."

 

Go read Investors Business Daily

December 9, 2008 - 21:13 ET by TheHistorian

As for this story, Rather may have left CBS, but his dishonesty still lives on. 

IBD claims that the middle class has grown in pay by about 3.7 percent per year, that the lower quintile has grown by 3.9 percent per year, and that Obama didn't have even one fact straight on TV on Sunday.  They cite the Census Bureau, not some so-called think tank.  http://www.ibdeditor...

"What experience and history teach is
this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history,
or acted on principles deduced from it."

G. W. F. Hegel