Journalists can’t handle the truth. The Big Three excuses for evening news shows ignored three major pieces of economic news that happened between September 15 and September 16.
Median household income was “$68,703 in 2019, an increase of 6.8 percent from the 2018 median of $64,324,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau September 15. University of Michigan professor of economics and finance Mark J. Perry tweeted a day later that this “was the highest on record and about 10X the average increase of 0.72% since 1968.” Also, the official poverty rate in 2019 dipped to 10.5 percent, “the lowest rate observed since estimates were initially published in 1959,” according to the Bureau. [Emphasis added.]
Lastly, Bloomberg News reported September 16, that current homebuilder optimism “jumped five points from a month earlier to 83, beating estimates and hitting the highest level in 35 years of the survey, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Market Index. It was 78 last month, which matched the previous record from 1998.”
ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News all ignored reporting any of this news on their evening broadcasts over the past two days. This latest bit of journalist malfeasance continues a long trend of keeping the American people in the dark on good news in President Donald Trump’s economy.
Concerning median household income in particular, the Census Bureau reported that “[t]he 2019 real median incomes of family households and nonfamily households increased 7.3 percent and 6.2 percent from their respective 2018 estimates.” But the good news doesn’t stop there: “This is the fifth consecutive annual increase in median household income for family households, and the second consecutive increase for nonfamily households.”
For extra measure, “[t]he 2019 real median incomes of White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic households all increased from their 2018 medians,” the Census Bureau said. On homebuilder optimism, Bloomberg News noted that “[a]n S&P index of homebuilder stocks has more than doubled since March 23 and is near a record high.” [Emphasis added.]
. (Source: Bloomberg News)
The Big Three apparently didn’t think any of this was worth coverage, especially now that Americans are grappling with an upcoming electoral decision on which presidential candidate would best be able to restore the U.S. economy.
As previously reported, the MRC documented 13 separate instances in 2020 where the Big Three ignored good economic and market news that even had the slightest chance of boosting Trump’s economic image.
The Big Three counterpart morning news shows have also proven themselves to be no better. Recently, ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today all ignored the U.S. unemployment rate dropping nearly two percentage points to 8.4 percent in August from 10.2 percent in June.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact ABC News (818-460-7477), CBS News (212-975-3247) and NBC News (212- 664-6192) and hold them to account for ignoring good economic news.
MRC News Analyst Nicholas Fondacaro contributed to this report.
