The AP and the R word

Hal Morris, writing on his Grumpy Editor blog, complains that the Associated Press is emphasizing the prospect of a recession too much in its coverage.

Morris wrote, AP writer Martin “Crutsinger pulled information from a National Association for Business Economics survey of 49 economists in declaring, ‘Because of all the bad news, more and more economists foresee the country falling into a recession.’ But it turns out to be something like — is the glass about half full or about half empty?

“He reported ’45 percent of the economists on its forecasting panel expect a recession this year.’ Grumpy Editor’s translation: that means 22 economists who see the ‘R’ word approaching — leaving a higher number, 27, who don’t.

“To be fair, Crutsinger, in the fifth paragraph of his piece, works in, ’55 percent still believe the country will be able to skate by without falling into an actual downturn, typically defined as two consecutive quarters of declines in gross domestic output, the broadest measure of economic health.'”

Read more here.