With the Dow Jones Industrial Average taking another nosedive on Monday, the MRC’s Rich Noyes joined Neil Cavuto’s eponymous Fox Business Network program to discuss the findings of a study by MRC Business’s Julia Seymour that found a massive double standard from the major broadcast networks on stock market increases vs. tumbles.
Cavuto set up Noyes by observing that they’re suddenly “very interested in the stock market” now that it’s doing down but “weren’t that big into it when stocks were going up.”
Noyes elaborated on that point, stating that “the rise in the Dow, the rise in stocks the past 13 months is one of the undercovered stories of the last — of the Trump presidency” with 81 records that Seymour tracked.
“My colleague Julia Seymour has been keeping track of this. 61 of those times your ABC, CBS, NBC evening newscasts did not find them worth covering. They gave a couple of mines to Dow 25,000, just a few seconds the Dow 26,000, but they all had big reports Friday night for this two percent correction on Friday....[T]hey’re sort of missing the ride up, but making sure people pay attention to the ride down,” he added.
Cavuto replied that President Trump has been unique compared to previous presidents by focusing more on the stock market as proof of a strong economy, so Noyes opined that “the media sort of ridiculed President Trump for pointing to the stock market every day, saying, well, he didn’t have anything to do with it” but Barack Obama did.
“Now all of a sudden that it's down a couple of a percent and you pointed out the reason why: It’s rising interest rates. Interest rates based on stronger economic growth. Suddenly, it seems like it's a bad thing and they want to, you know, point out this is biggest correction since he took office. I've heard that phrase over and over again in the last 72 hours,” he continued.
Going forward, Noyes predicted that network financial analysts “will warn people not to overreact, which they should not do, but I think they will try to sort of put a dampen on the general economic good feeling that you've had with President Trump over the last couple of months.”
To see the relevant transcript from FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast on February 5, click “expand”:
FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast
February 5, 2018
1:28 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Down at Session Lows]
NEIL CAVUTO: But I do notice this since I try to keep an eye on all the news and business channels because that's the kind of guy I am, America. You’re welcome. Anyway, I've noticed all of a sudden, they are very interested in the stock market, which I like because it's my little nerdy world, so I like when people pay attention to what I pay attention to. But you know, they weren’t that big into it when stocks were going up. So, we were following it when it’s going. We follow it when it’s going down. We don't ignore one way or the other year, but I do find it interesting that now it's a big deal, so I'm happy to have them come along for the ride into my nerdy little world, but it seems they’re predisposed when it's negative and not when it’s positive. But again, that could be me. But people actually watch this stuff all the time to crunch the numbers and actually see if I'm right that this is unusual. Media Research Center Research Director Rich Noyes on this. Rich, it’s uncanny. All of a sudden, I see these big old bugs, that’s what we call them there. They were slashing the Dow as they should. But I don’t remember any of that when we were going up, up. What’s going on?
RICH NOYES: No. This is, I mean, a little bit as the news business. A plane crash is
CAVUTO: Absolutely.
NOYES: — more newsworthy than planes landing safely time after time. However, the rise in the Dow, the rise in stocks the past 13 months is one of the undercovered stories of the last — of the Trump presidency. There have been 81 records. My colleague Julia Seymour has been keeping track of this. 81 records in the Dow since last year. 61 of those times your ABC, CBS, NBC evening newscasts did not find them worth covering. They gave a couple of mines to Dow 25,000, just a few seconds the Dow 26,000, but they all had big reports Friday night for this two percent correction on Friday. My guess is if they are down like we are now they will do big stories again tonight. But, you know, they’re sort of missing the ride up, but making sure people pay attention to the ride down.
CAVUTO: Well, you know, here is where the President may have dug himself a bit of a pit here and that is the predisposition to quote the markets all the time. And I understand that he says the media doesn't give enough credit for that.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Stocks Extend Selloff]
That is fine, but other White House arguments have enormous run ups under their watch, Ronald Reagan, you know, Bill Clinton for a while, George Bush junior, they avoided that and focus instead on things like how many more people were getting jobs, whether tax rates had benefited their take-home pay, et cetera. This President wetted himself to the markets and so you own it on the way up. You potentially on it on the way down. A White House spokesman on Air Force One traveling with the president to Ohio said that the markets fluctuate but that the fundamentals of the economy are very strong. Now, obviously, if I had a dime every time I heard the administration argue that, they’re technically right and technically right in this case. But you live by the sword, you die by the sword, right?
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Breaking News; Stocks at Session Lows; Trump Arrives in Ohio to Tout Tax Cuts]
NOYES: Well, yes, but I mean, the media sort of ridiculed President Trump for pointing to the stock market every day, saying, well, he didn’t have anything to do with it. He inherited it from President Obama. Now all of a sudden that it's down a couple of a percent and you pointed out the reason why: It’s rising interest rates.
CAVUTO: Right.
NOYES: Interest rates based on stronger economic growth. Suddenly, it seems like it's a bad thing and they want to, you know, point out this is biggest correction since he took office. I've heard that phrase over and over again in the last 72 hours.
CAVUTO: Oh, you’re in the right. I was switching into the exact same thing and ignoring the fact is enormously unprecedented. But you’re right. I understand that if it bleeds, it leads and that their red arrows is it’s better and gets more coverage. But I am just wondering how you suspect the media were cover all of this tonight if it finishes kind of as we're looking at it now.
NOYES: Oh, I think they will give it another round of coverage. They’ll — you know, I think some of the personal finance people will warn people not to overreact, which they should not do. But I think they will try to sort of put a dampen on the general economic good feeling that you've had with President Trump over the last couple of months.
CAVUTO: Alright, always good seeing you, Rich Noyes. Thank you very much. I apologize, it reminds me, this market leaving me speechless.
