Economy Continues Growth, Media Ignore Story
By Richard Newcomb | August 30, 2007 | 12:54
The Drudge Report has a front-page headline about the good news from the economy this morning. The headline links to an extensive story in Bloomberg News covering the economic news in detail. But it seems that for the majority of the media, this is not news that they wish to highlight.
While the New York Times did not appear to consider this news as important as the report on the Viriginia Tech shootings, it did place a link to a short summary of the news on the front page in the 'Other News' section. On the other hand, CNN has so far not even mentioned the good economic news. ABC News has the Chinese toy-recall story placed prominently on their main page, but also seems to have missed the economic news as of 0825 hours Pacific time.
As for the other major news networks, MSNBC does have a link on their front page, stating the 4 percent growth that is the heart of the economic report. Unlike the Times, MSNBC also considered the economic news to be one of their top stories. CBS News considered the Virginia Tech report, a story on an audit of Iraqi leaders and a record temperature in Phoeniz all important enough to be top stories. However, as of 0832 Pacific time this morning, one had to scroll down to 'Economic News' in order to discover that Economy Grows Despite Housing Woes. There is not a single mention of the good news of the 4 percent growth. Fox News has a link under "Latest News' that announces the 4 percent growth numbers. Surprisingly for a supposedly right-wing news outlet, Fox also does not have these numbers as their main headline- that honor was reserved for the GAO Iraq progress report and a story on Senator Hillary Clinton's Chinese money. However, their story was fairly detailed, unlike that of the New York Times.
All in all, it seems that the New York Times, ABC, Fox and MSNBC found the economic news worthy of reporting in some manner, though none of them made it their leading story. However, CNN did not even have a link and CBS buried it as far as they could. One would almost think that the media had some interest in not reporting this news. It is a pity that good news does not get the same press as bad news, but then it would seem that as long as George W. Bush occupies the White House that the media in this country will do their utmost to downplay any postitives.
Cross-posted at StoneHeads.
While the New York Times did not appear to consider this news as important as the report on the Viriginia Tech shootings, it did place a link to a short summary of the news on the front page in the 'Other News' section. On the other hand, CNN has so far not even mentioned the good economic news. ABC News has the Chinese toy-recall story placed prominently on their main page, but also seems to have missed the economic news as of 0825 hours Pacific time.
As for the other major news networks, MSNBC does have a link on their front page, stating the 4 percent growth that is the heart of the economic report. Unlike the Times, MSNBC also considered the economic news to be one of their top stories. CBS News considered the Virginia Tech report, a story on an audit of Iraqi leaders and a record temperature in Phoeniz all important enough to be top stories. However, as of 0832 Pacific time this morning, one had to scroll down to 'Economic News' in order to discover that Economy Grows Despite Housing Woes. There is not a single mention of the good news of the 4 percent growth. Fox News has a link under "Latest News' that announces the 4 percent growth numbers. Surprisingly for a supposedly right-wing news outlet, Fox also does not have these numbers as their main headline- that honor was reserved for the GAO Iraq progress report and a story on Senator Hillary Clinton's Chinese money. However, their story was fairly detailed, unlike that of the New York Times.
All in all, it seems that the New York Times, ABC, Fox and MSNBC found the economic news worthy of reporting in some manner, though none of them made it their leading story. However, CNN did not even have a link and CBS buried it as far as they could. One would almost think that the media had some interest in not reporting this news. It is a pity that good news does not get the same press as bad news, but then it would seem that as long as George W. Bush occupies the White House that the media in this country will do their utmost to downplay any postitives.
Cross-posted at StoneHeads.
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