CBS Ignores Study on Job Losses From Tax Hikes; Cited 'Cost to Taxpayers' of Keeping Current Rates

A study released Wednesday from accounting firm Ernst & Young, which estimated that the U.S. would lose 710,000 jobs if the Bush-era tax cuts on the highest income earners aren't renewed, apparently isn't newsworthy to CBS. The network's Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning newscasts omitted the study, which also predicted that the nation's already struggling economic output would decline another 1.3 percent.

By contrast, on the July 9, 2012 edition of CBS Evening News, White House correspondent Norah O'Donnell played up a supposed $850 billion "cost to taxpayers" over 10 years if the current tax rates are extended.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg's Roxana Tiron and Richard Rubin reported on the study, which came from a partnership between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the National Federation of Independent Business, and S-Corp. Tiron and Rubin quoted study authors Robert Carroll and Gerald Plante, who stated that "the higher tax rates will have significant adverse economic effects in the long run: lowering output, employment, investment, the capital stock and real after-tax wages when the resulting revenue is used to finance additional government spending."

Later in their article, the two writers outlined the political response to the study. As one might expect, the Obama White House, which supports letting taxes rise on incomes above $250,000, "disputed the study, saying it gets 'the president's tax cuts wrong' and employs 'flawed assumptions.'" Tiron and Rubin also quoted from House Speaker John Boehner, who claimed "his [Obama's] massive tax hike will only make things worse." Even with this inside the Beltway dispute, CBS didn't cover the study on the air.

Instead, the network seems more interested in promoting the latest slams of Republican politicians by liberal comedians. Tuesday's CBS This Morning promoted Stephen Colbert likening Mitt Romney to the Donner Party, which resorted to cannibalism to survive in the 19th century. The following day, the morning show played a clip of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel insulting former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a "crazy moose lady."