Networks overlook new jobs; print doesn't

Julia Seymour of the Business & Media Institute writes that the network news shows ignored 810,000 new jobs found by the Department of Labor last week while the print media devoted attention to the subject.

Seymour wrote, “The networks barely mentioned any of the news, and none reported the huge revision to the past year’s numbers.

“Print media were more forthcoming. Investor’s Business Daily called it ‘the biggest upward revision in at least 10 years’ on October 9, the same day The Wall Street Journal labeled it the ‘whoops’ report.

“The Journal’s editorial asked the question other media didn’t: How did the Labor Department overlook 810,000 new jobs? ‘Most of the media has ignored all this and instead focused on the disappointing 51,000 ‘new jobs’ number from the establishment survey for September,’ the editorial said.

“The Washington Post, which had reported the numbers on October 7, even highlighted the revision again in its October 8 Business Briefing.

“‘Unemployment is down to 4.6 percent, the lowest in five years, the Labor Department reported, adding with some embarrassment that it had suddenly discovered an estimated 810,000 net new jobs that it had somehow overlooked in the year ended in March,’ wrote Steven Pearlstein. ‘And in such a tight labor market, it’s no surprise that average wages are rising faster than inflation for the first time in years.’

“But ABC and CBS had no segments on the employment report through the weekend, although CBS viewers might have gotten a whiff of the news from a clip of President Bush amidst coverage of the Mark Foley scandal.”

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