Media Bias and the Economy...Are You Buying It?

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Comment by Mark Howard on January 9, 2009 at 10:58am

that 99 cent download comment was my critique of a comment by a Fox News talking head, read up one comment. I am unfamiliar with Faux News, the only channel I specified for bias about the economy was Fox News, which has a similar sound. In my last 4 comments, two contained specific issue I have with Fox, no other network is mentioned. For some background, since the elected Republicans are no longer conservatives, I am not sure what party I belong to. I learned over the last 8 years that if a Republican is 'waging' a war, we are truly a paper tiger, the Commander in Chief will be undermined at every turn right here at home. I would pray that Republicans would not do the same thing to a Democrat administrations run war. I Obama feels the need to wage a war, I am behind him. I will not undermine, piss and moan about he body count every night, cry about the government listening to my cell phone calls, or call the ACLU because Bush is may be reviewing my bank account to see if I am getting money from the Taliban. I will back the Commander in Chief no matter who it is.

Comment by Mark Howard on January 8, 2009 at 9:43pm

Of course bias is in the eye of the beholder, but "most people can't afford a 99 cent download"?? okay, that is just stupid hyperbole from a talking head, not bias. Maybe the media didn't challenge Bush on the need to take down Saddam was because Clinton and all Dems were saying the same things, maybe since Bush was in agreement with Clinton that's why Bush wasn't challenged. But as soon as Bush wanted to do something about it, the mainstream media did about everything it could to undermine the war, particularly in telling the enemy that we should quit, the war was lost, giving them information on our tactics, just hang on a little longer enemy, we will pull out soon enough....We all love U.N, Sanctions, and if Saddam wants to violate them, we are not supposed to do anything about it. we digress.....

Comment by Mark Howard on January 8, 2009 at 6:50pm

well put Genie. I think we are all preaching to the choir here. We just worry for those who DON'T make up their own minds and buy into whatever these talking heads are saying. It's just so in our faces all the time. Like the numbnuts on Fox who just now was introducing a bit on an electronics show by starting with "with people unable to afford so much as a download of an iTune, what are they hoping to sell there?" With fear of being labeled 'out of touch', I'll go out on a limb and suggest that 99 cents is still in reach of most Americans.

Comment by Genie Goykhberg on January 8, 2009 at 3:21pm

Just like in any other areas of our existence - it’s all about BALANCE!
I see journalists as... the wolves (no pun...).
The Forest of our society need them just exact - to keep our fauna (especially those with the power and the opportunity to abuse that power) in shape. Simply knowing that there are some hungry teethyyyyy wolves around can straight up most of their behavior.
Now, let’s accept the responsibility of their effect on our lives!
It’s our job to process, filter and use the information they brought in their teeth.
I admit, it make me sick in my stomach to observe how many people in this best country in the World allow media to form their opinion... SAD!
I have frame of reference, firsthand experience, hence the right to state: Americans are the most naive people I know... Why? It could be because life is gooooood here! A person on a welfare program has better life than most people around the Globe...
Anyway - my point here is Lets Hold OURSELVES Accountable for our own reaction on the media, colleagues, family etc; Accountable for our own well-being in a first place - because poor digestion will sure make your reaction inadequate.
Whatever goes up at some point goes down
Strong immune system, good health, positive outlook - the assets that contribute to our success at any point of American Economy.
Health is Wealth!
Energy Within Us.

Comment by Mark Howard on December 27, 2008 at 11:25am

Let's me add another media outlet that is biased on this. FOX News is also going on and on about the 4% drop in sales this season, then it goes on to list all the catagories that are down more than 4%. from down about 10% to 35%. Then it stands to reason that there must almost as many catagories that are UP so that the average is minus 4%. That list is nowhere to be found. They accidentally mentioned a catagory that is down 2% this year which is horrible because last year it was up 20% last year and had always set record highs. So this catagory is up 18% from two years ago and is only 2% off it's all time high, and this is spun as terrible. I understand that the media's job to some extent is to report on the house that is on fire, not the one's that are not on fire. That would make a weird and boring news report if it was all about houses that were not burning. But still, a little context would be refreshing.

Comment by Mark Howard on December 24, 2008 at 12:39pm

'the worst economy since the great depression', That is such an insult to the people who lived through the depression. Just shows how incredibly spoiled every generation since the great one is. Christmas sales have plummeted a whopping 1%!! Seems to me like there is unconscious agenda to report it as bad as possible, until the new administration takes over, then it's sunshine and lollipops because Obama is spending a trillion dollars to 'create' jobs. Most news stories throw in some BS about the bad economy. The malls are packed, but not as packed as usual because of the bad economy! Back to you!.......

Comment by Laura M. Rodebaugh on December 24, 2008 at 12:25pm

Henry:
I agree that it is unfair to accuse all media sources of overt negativity. You're right - you cannot lump everyone into one category and there are plenty of good journalists out there who try to report all sides of an issue. However, I still maintain that I get frustrated by the fact that so much of the news seems incredibly negative and focused only on the bad side of things. I pay attention to various forms of news media, including television, radio, print and online news. It seems as though the vast majority of the pieces or articles focus on the "horrible state of our economy", including constant references to the Great Depression. Although it's a tough time right now and there may be some similarities, many media sources fail to report the simple fact that there are a lot of key differences too. For example, investors at the time of the Great Depression could borrow a much larger percentage of money to purchase securities on margin, which magnified losses when they happened. Also, our Federal Reserve was not nearly as active as it is now and they did not do as much to try and keep the economy going. I rarely read headlines about companies that are doing well or had a positive event of some kind; these companies do exist, but a lot of media sources overlook them entirely in favor of the more negative stories. These are just a few examples, but they offer a different perspective that some media sources consistently fail to report. My point is this: while it's not fair and not true to accuse all media sources of being biased or overly negative, I contend that a lot of them do focus way too much on the "gloom and doom" stories. It can give the general public a distorted view of things and cause mass fear and panic when it may not be warranted. And I think the constant negativity wears on all of us.

Comment by Mark Howard on December 24, 2008 at 11:39am

Matthews also added on another show that he was eager to help Obama succeed, when challenged on wether that was his job he said 'yes because the country needs it'. Didn't the country need to succeed during the Republican administration?

Comment by Mark Howard on December 24, 2008 at 9:56am

At least Sean Hannity at Fox knows he is a conservative, check this out.
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Wins“Quote of the Year”
Listening to Obama, “I felt this thrill going up my leg!”
ALEXANDRIA, VA. --- The Media Research Center today announced its Best Notable Quotables of 2008: The 21st Annual Awards for the Year’s Worst Reporting, and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews “won” the dubious honor of Quote of the Year for gushing over a Barack Obama speech back in February: “I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often….And that is an objective assessment.”
With objective assessments like that, you can see where his reporting comes from.

Comment by Henry Howard on December 23, 2008 at 3:21pm

Mark and Lindsay ... thanks for your replies. Certainly, no media organization or member of the media is perfect. Yours truly included. And I agree that when CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox, et al constantly focus on the economy (or the story du jour) it seems extreme. And, as a consumer of news, I can understand how that can be aggravating.

All media companies are in a state of constant change now. As consumers are more able to pick and choose their sources for news and information, it will be interesting to see how print media, broadcast media (and their web sites) fare against new competitors such as new web sites, bloggers, etc.

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