CBS downplays GDP growth, while other networks silent

Brent Baker of NewsBusters wants to know how network CBS can report that a doubling of the Gross Domestic Product is a “struggling economy,” while the other major networks ignore the news.

Baker writes, “Second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) doubled to 1.9 percent, up from 0.9 percent in the first quarter, the Commerce Department announced Thursday morning as consumer spending rose 1.5 percent in the quarter ending June 30, up from 0.9 percent in the first quarter, and U.S. exports soared 9.2 percent, way up from 5.1 percent in the first three months of 2008.

“Yet the CBS Evening News centered a story around ‘disappointing’ news about the supposedly ‘struggling economy’ (with that on screen) — while ABC and NBC, which on April 30 led with full stories on the news of a 0.6 percent (since revised to 0.9) first quarter GDP, didn’t utter a syllable Thursday night about the big GDP jump.

“On the last day of April, ABC’s Betsy Stark declared the economy had ‘flat lined’ and NBC anchor Brian Williams warned ‘it’s getting rough out there’ as the new GDP number ‘stops just short of the official declaration of a recession.’ Thursday night, however, ABC’s World News and NBC Nightly News made time for full stories on outrage over ExxonMobil earning ‘the largest profit ever made by a U.S. company.’ The ‘oil industry says it is not out of line, but some motorists feel otherwise.’

Read more here.