The media’s role in perceptions about the economy

Joshua Benton of Nieman Lab looks at the disconnect between what consumers think about the economy and what’s actually happening.

Benton writes, “A responsible news media has a lot of jobs, but here’s one of the most important: giving audiences an accurate image of the state of the world around them. How’s the country doing, overall? Is the economy booming or busting? Is crime climbing or dropping?

“Anyone can, of course, reach their own conclusions on those questions, independent of the news they consume. But their views will necessarily be influenced by their own individual circumstances. Did they just get a promotion — or laid off? Do they feel safe sleeping with their front door unlocked — or did they just get mugged? Their own personal data points might align with a larger trend — or they might not. And news stories have traditionally been a big part of how people figured out which was which.

“But we’ve just concluded an election cycle that suggests something important has broken in that feedback loop. How people perceive the economy and crime are major factors in whether they reward or punish incumbents with their vote. And decades-old patterns in that process seem to have gone a little haywire.

“Take the economy. This spring, everyone was talking about the ‘vibecession.’ Americans believed the economy was in the tank, despite loads of evidence showing the opposite. Just before Election Day, 54% of Americans surveyed said the U.S. was currently in a recession, versus only 30% who said it wasn’t. (It wasn’t and isn’t.) Americans feel quite good about their own financial situation, but they’re convinced the American economy writ large is in dire straits.”