Media add fuel to the fire

Chris Churchill, a business reporter at the Albany Times-Union, notes the negative reaction that media coverage of the economy received at a local chamber panel.

Churchill writes, “You can’t avoid the sentiment if you’re a business reporter. And it was a recurring theme Wednesday at a panel discussion on the economy presented by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“‘You do start to get a self-fulfilling prophecy,’ said panelist Gary Keith, a Buffalo-based economist for M&T Bank, which has more than a dozen local branches.

“Keith objected, in particular, to the media’s increasing use of the word depression. An Associated Press story on the possibility of a depression made the front page of many newspapers Tuesday, including the Times Union and the Daily Gazette in Schenectady.

“Keith and other critics note that slumping consumer confidence — the willingness to spend money — is a big reason the economy has cratered. And they claim the media are helping to prolong the downturn by relentlessly repeating bad news.”

Read more here.