Yesterday, Glenn linked a comment James Taranto made in his Best of the Web column for the on-line edition of the Wall Street Journal:
Have you noticed a change in the economic news over the past year or so? It’s a deliberately ambiguous question: The actual news has gotten worse, but the coverage of it has changed in tone. Today, reporters are eagerly looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. A year ago, and for a long time before that, they couldn’t wait to get into the tunnel.
The media, as Glenn put it, seem to be desperately seeking silver linings in dismal economic news yet during the eight years preceding January 20, 2009, they seem to have aggressively been seeking dark clouds despite robust economic performance for the better part of that period.
It seems that media coverage of the economy–and economic policies–of the incumbent President may have prolonged his honeymoon and perhaps even inflated his poll numbers. By contrast, their coverage of his precessor may have helped keep his favorables down while explaining why he regularly got mediocre marks on the economy even as it grew and unemployment remained at–or below–the levels of the 1990s.
I wonder how much worse the incumbent’s numbers on the economy if the MSM did as the conservative media and blogosphere is doing, showing the amount debt which will accrue with Obama’s policies–and contrasting the unemployment figures projected by the Administration when they pushed passage of the “stimulus” and those we see today.
Makes me wonder if media coverage of the economy affects the way we perceive the economy. That is, if the media is always looking for dark clouds amidst general good numbers, do we perceive the economy to be worse than it is? Similarly, if they’re always looking for a silver lining, do we become more optimistic about an imminent recovery?
While I certainly castigate the gloom and doom coverage, I don’t fault them for the optimism, indeed, see it as a good thing. I just wonder that they wouldn’t want to give us hope of continued prosperity when a Republican is in the White House.
Here is where it is most effective, people who still have their jobs and aren’t suffering directly, are bouyed by the good news. No news will change the perception of the person going through the hard times themselves.
Of course you have to be completely blind to not see that we are going through a recession.
But the Progressives are telling us this is a good thing, ‘use and resuse’, be frugal are good things that we all really want. What I hate about this attitude is the sanctimonious aspect, by people who aren’t cutting back that much but are preaching to those who have no choice.
That must be a rhetorical question!
That’s about the size of it. Far too many people are still getting their news from the likes of Katie Couric, who is so far in the tank for Obama she’s been caught in the filter trap more than once.
If 2010 plays out like 1994, most of the MSM will be crying in their beer.
It is because of a possible replay of 1994 the MSM does what it does. You see, it would mean putting back on the shelf all the feel-good programs they so love and support. Cannot have that now can we?