Call it an obvious "InCNNsistency."
Subtle bias towards emphasizing unfavorable economic news and against reporting good economic news is present in many places. I will demonstrate that it's even sometimes in the brief e-mail alerts many people receive.
This alert I received today from CNNMoney demonstrates a long-known (by me) but, until now, unproven point:
But when the Dow closed above 14,000 for the first time on October 1, 2007, here is what that day's CNN alert had to say:
I asserted at the time (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog) my belief that CNNMoney was good at telling us when benchmark indices dropped below round numbers, while it was "strangely" remiss in noting round-number highs. The disparate treatment in the two-e-mails just shown proves the point.
Here's another inCNNsistency to emphasize: CNNMoney didn't even wait for the closing bell to tell us that the Dow went below 12,000, i.e., the below-12,000 dip was an intra-day event. I would suggest that CNNMoney didn't want to miss an opportunity to insert an extra dose of pessimism, just in case the Dow might recover by the close.
There was no intra-day "Dow Breaks 14000" e-mail last October.
Wouldn't you know it? The Dow closed at 12,029. No doubt, a rough day. But the folks at CNNMoney may be taking satisfaction in the extra dig it got in.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
