Categories: OLD Media Moves

TV biz journalists see economic crisis; economists aren't sure

Dan Gainor of the Business & Media Institute writes Wednesday that too many television business journalists are reporting about the economy as if it’s in a crisis when the economists aren’t sure themselves.

Gainor wrote, “The only people who appear to be sure of what’s going on in the economy are journalists who feed the “crisisâ€? idea to an unwitting public. The media have warned of recession or even depression throughout a 49-month run of positive job growth. But never more than in September when it briefly looked like that streak had ended.

“The initial report showed 4,000 jobs lost instead of more than 100,000 gained. Reporters swarmed to the story like thirsty men to an oasis. ABC’s Betsy Stark explained how dire this news was to the ‘World News with Charles Gibson’ audience. “Charlie, many consider the jobs report the single-most important barometer of the nation’s economic health. Well, right now the barometer is reading high alert.’

“The next morning, Bianna Golodryga was warning ABC’s audience of the ‘Road to Recession.’ She summed up the reporting with this downbeat outlook: ‘Friday’s bleak jobs report conveyed a clear message. The economy may be in worse shape than previously thought.’

“Only it wasn’t. Or at least ‘the single-most important barometer of the nation’s economic health’ wasn’t.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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