Well, maybe they aren't rooting for a recession, but the mainstream media sure are anticipating one coming around the bend any time now, and have for quite a while.
That's the finding in the Business & Media Institute's latest newsletter story, available online here.
Here's a taste:
No matter how the economy is doing, the word “recession” never seems too far away. CBS began the year with talk of a recession and similar discussion has cropped on up ABC and CNN throughout 2006 and even going back to Hurricane Rita last fall.
ABC delivered two separate warnings of the latest recession fears on June 7. Starting with “Good Morning America,” the network ran counter to recent news that first-quarter growth had been revised upward. The new number was even stronger: 5.3 percent. Despite that excellent performance, reporter Robin Roberts warned that a recession was possible. “The two-day sell off was sparked by concerns that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates too much, cooling the economy to the point of recession,” she claimed.
Later that same day, ABC correspondent Betsy Stark gave the “World News Tonight” audience another dose of bad medicine by again talking about a possible “recession.” Stark also warned that the Federal Reserve could cause a recession if it were to “raise interest rates too much to fight inflation.”
Neither report included any experts who could point out the current strength of the economy.
