Blame the Media?

CC on the financial front the business media shouldn't get the blame. I don't blame journalists and anchors for the economic downturn. However,in reporting a story, and if that story isn't reported propertly or has bad information,then point the finger of blame. Now the worst bias reporting I've seen has been in the political arena with the attacks on Sarah Palin; but those attacks did carry consequences. Like US magazine lost readers from it subscriber base and Rolling Stone which Jan Wenner he had to some layoffs. But on ecomomic news I didn't blame anyone. Now for bad rumors on Wall Street,those people should get the blame but not all.

The media is not at fault for today's recession. That has been brought on by the banks and their over leveraging of the subprime paper. I do however think that the folks that have been yelling recession for the last 5-6 years (mostly left wing pundits playing the Bush bashing game) contibuted heavily to the slow erosion of consumer confidence to where it is today.

The media certainly has an effect on people's economic attitudes. The media has given the impression that we have been in a recession for the past year when in fact, this is probably first quarter of an actual recession. As usual, election year politics has played into the economic story, and the recession has become a self fulfilled phrophecy. Why not highlight the fact that even at 6.5% unemployement, the United States still has the lowest unemployment numbers in the world? Now that congress has extended unemployment benefits, how many people are actually still looking for a job? How many people are collecting unemployment and working a job under the table. In the past, it was always a popular choice of those who were laid off during the winter months and I am sure it still goes on today. As I see it, everyone has received the best economic stimulis package they could get. A 50% cut in the cost of gasoline. That has to be worth a lot more than the stimulis package that Congress passed this year. If 93.5% of the population still has a job, and 1%-1.5% percent of the population has been laid off, what difference does that make to those that have a job and are still getting paid the same amount of money as the earned last year? They still have the ability to spend the money but they are not because the media is telling them not to. At some point, people will build up a comfortable level of cash reserves and start spending again. 6 months after we are out of the recession, the media will swoop in and tell people what they already knew. Everything isn't that bad. Once Obama is sitting in the White House, I am sure the media will have plenty of good news to report.

This is historically bad beyond belief. It's my opinion that the media is showing measurable restraint. Many people alive have not witnessed this collection of bad data and news. If a guy like Buffet were honest, it's my opinion he would tell you the same thing. Yes, even guys and gals his age have not seen this type of meltdown. I'm on the other side of this argument. I was under the impression that the higher ups in the media demanded a filtering of bad news, sugar coating the real catastrophe on our hands. Blaming the media, it's just more personal responsibility shift.

It would seem to be a combination of both. The market contraction is real. The fact that the US consumer has lived off debt for the past several years, and is now "tapped out" is real. The housing bubble / credit bubble is real. The media tends to take this reality and sensationalizes it with dire predictions of whats to come.

What I find amazing, is that it is the media's fault for prolonging this "recession". There has not yet been 2 consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. That is the definition of a recession. This election cycle is very reminiscent of 1992, when Clinton won. The media was saying how bad the economy was, and as a result, we got Slick Willie. The unemployement rate is at 6.5%. Full employment is measured by a 5% unemployment rate. But according to the Democrats, this is the worst since the depression. Excuse Me? Unemployment was at 26% during the depression. The media has talked us into an economic slowdown so that Obama can get elected. That is propaganda and manipulation at its lowest level. Herr Goebbels would have been proud. Is it any wonder that the citizens of this country loathe the media elitists who dumb down information, because they feel the people are too ignorant to understand information. It's the media's fault.

It's a mixed bag Cheryl. Right now, I have no doubt that the numbers tell the story and the media is only reporting it. Months ago, however, the eagerness of the media (not all encompassing by the way) to tell the scary story probably triggered some of the uneasiness and confidence downturn. The emotional, knee-jerk reactions to the news starts the spiral in that people start making irrational moves, which triggers more negative reporting, and then more emotional responses. The rate and intensity of the reporting and the reactions are likely increased due to the election year as well - all of the negative campaigning trying to paint a picture of how bad it is with the incumbents.

Someone has to tell the story. The leaders in Washington lie and decieve us and think that we are stupid. The truth is something we can prepare for. I want to say thanks to FBN for telling the truth and I hope they will allow your lawsuit to make it to the courts and not come up with some hair brained sceme to say we can't know the truth due to national security.