Washington Post story placement and the economy

The blog NewsBusters claims that the Washington Post puts good economic news on the front page of its business section and bad economic news on the front page of the paper.

Tim Graham writes: “On Saturday, February 4, the great news about the jobless rate dropping to 4.7 percent, with the Post sub-headline explaining ‘Unemployment Hits Lowest Level Since July ’01,’ ended up on page D-1, the front page of the Business section, a regular lower-profile location for good economic news.

“On Saturday, February 11, ‘Trade Gap Hits Record For 4th Year In A Row’ ended up on page A-1, with the Post warning in the first paragraph that this statistic that ‘soared to a record’ is ‘a reminder of the dangers hovering over a generally robust economy.’ We should give the Post a little credit for noting the ‘robust’ part, even though that’s usually left in the D-section. Both articles were written by Paul Blustein, but both had a blend of positive and negative notes. But the jobless-rate article quoted a mix of experts, from a statement by the Treasury Secretary to independent experts to the Center for American Progress, labeled a ‘pro-Democratic think tank.’ (That’s a creative way to avoid the ‘liberal’ label.)”

Read the entire post here.