When the public thinks up is down, it's time to rethink coverage

[Nevilledog]

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Dan Froomkin/PressWatchers.org
@froomkin
Polls show the public thinks the U.S. lost jobs last year, when in fact it posted record-breaking job growth. Economic reporters should be ashamed.

presswatchers.org
When the public thinks up is down, it's time to rethink coverage | Press Watch
Polls show the public thinks the U.S. lost jobs last year, when in fact it posted record-breaking job growth. Economic journalism FAIL.
9:25 AM · Mar 4, 2022

https://presswatchers.org/2022/03/when-the-public-thinks-up-is-down-its-time-to-rethink-coverage/

Imagine you’re the editor of a major national news organization and you learn that the general public is terribly misinformed about an important issue that your reporters cover intensely — say you see poll results showing that a lot of people believe something that is diametrically opposed to the truth.

You’d probably call a meeting. You’d say: “Hey, what we’re doing isn’t working.” You’d ask: “What are we doing wrong?” And once you figured out, you’d say: “Well, let’s stop that. Let’s try something else.”:

But you aren’t the editor of a major national news organization, are you.

And what they say is: “Whatever.”

For a change, I’m not talking about political reporting. I’m talking about economics reporting, which is arguably worse. It’s certainly chronically bad.

Dean Baker is my guru on this stuff. He has long bemoaned the state of big-media economic coverage on his Beat the Press blog, which is hosted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a group Baker co-founded in 1999 and where he still serves as senior economist.

*snip*

[Walleye]

1. With a Republican in the White House all you would hear about would be the 3.8% unemployment

[Caliman73]

2. The primary goal of media is profit...

You can certainly make the argument that their profits are based on "being trusted" and "engaging viewers" but the reality is that like other for profit enterprises, the greatest predictor of success is "Brand recognition" and loyalty. That does not have anything to do with actually putting out accurate information. Look at the National Enquirer or the New York Post. They are tabloids, rags, yet they still have readership enough to continue.

Part of the problem is that economics has become just another partisan issue. Showing the conflict is much more lucrative than showing the facts.

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. CorpoPravda (AKA Plutocracy Pravda) at work. nt

[maxsolomon]

6. Who is "CorpoPravda", specifically?

USA Today? the NYT? CNBC? Are they lying about job numbers? Hiding them?

When I catch NPR or CBS top-of-the-hour news on the radio, they report job gains & unemployment when it comes out. I just don't think most people pay any attention to the trends over the year; they base it on their PMI (personal misery index).

[maxsolomon]

5. The Right Wing has a very big megaphone.

Where do most Mericans hear their economic news? Nowhere.