Despite the doom and gloom, all-bad-news-all-the-time mainstream media’s attempt to manufacture a recession, the economy continued to grow in the first quarter. “Earlier this year,” admitted the Associated Press, “some economists thought the economy would lurch into reverse during the opening quarter.” Now, to the surprise of no one, “they believe that will likely happen during the current April-to-June period.” Displaying all the traits of propagandists, journalists are no longer content with reporting facts, but routinely regurgitate self-fulfilling prophecies. “We’ll have a recession if it kills me” is the common media mantra.
News consumers have been bombarded for months with dire predictions of impending economic catastrophe. Here is a very small sampling:
Reuters, January 10, 2008. Headline: “Recession fears are growing.” Opening sentence: “Expectations for the weakest consumer spending performance in 17 years during 2008 kept the odds of a recession at nearly 40 percent…”
Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2008. Headline: “Recession worries sink stocks.” Opening sentence: “Increasing fears that the nation is headed for a recession — or, indeed, may already be in one…”
Associated Press, January 30, 2008. From the opening paragraph: “…signs that the U.S. economy may be tipping toward a recession.”
Associated Press, January 31, 2008. From the article: “…to speed rebate checks to millions of homes in an effort to…ward off a recession — or at least make it a short and mild downturn.”
Press-Enterprise, February 8, 2008. Headline: “Do job loses spell r-e-c-e-s-s-i-o-n?” Opening sentence: “…fueling fears that the economy is already in a recession.”
Associated Press, February 10, 2008. Headline: “Many believe U.S. already in a recession.” Third paragraph: “Sixty-one percent of the public believes the economy is now suffering through its first recession since 2001, according to an Associated Press/Ipsos poll.”
Associated Press, February 22, 2008. Headline: “Conditions bringing on deja vu.” Sub-head: “The Conference Board likens its January findings to those before recessions.”
Associated Press, February 27, 2008. Third paragraph: “The economy nearly stalled in the final three months of last year and probably is barely growing now, or even shrinking.”
Reuters, March 28, 2008. First paragraph: “…in February…the economy teetered on the brink of a recession.”
Associated Press, April 5, 2008. Headline: “Huge loss of jobs fuels fears.” First sentence: “For many, it’s no longer a question of recession or not. Now it’s how deep and how long.”
Today’s news that the economy expanded in the first three months of 2008, continuing a six-year-long string of positive-growth quarters, reveals these stories for what they are, irresponsible opinion pieces masquerading as news. No wonder print media and broadcast television news are in decline. Just today my local paper, The Press-Enterprise, published a request for bad economic news, I kid you not. Under the headline, “Financial crisis stories wanted” was this unbelievable attempt to manufacture “news”:
“Are mortgage payments and soaring food and gas prices driving you into the ground financially?
“The Press-Enterprise is looking for families whose lifestyles have changed dramatically as home values drop and costs climb.
“Whether you have altered your living situation or commute, eliminated extracurricular activities for your children, changed your menu or stopped optional spending, we’d like to know how the changing money picture is affecting you.
“Information will be used in a future story. Contact reporter Janet Zimmerman at jzimmerman@PE.com, or call her at 951-368-9586, and include your name and daytime phone number.”
If this isn’t a new low in journalistic integrity, what is? Of course the lazy reporter will be contacted. The lure of publicity and the attendant possibility of financial assistance will produce sob stories galore. An accurate portrayal of the region’s economic condition will have to be filed by someone else.
The American economy is still at least six months away from a recession, although the mainstream media would have us in one right now. Average Americans need to understand that a great deal of what we read and hear about the economy, the war in Iraq, health care, education, political campaigns and other important issues is not journalism, but propaganda.
The information industry in America has abandoned its responsibility to provide trustworthy news, opting instead to shape opinion and re-make the culture in its image. Ironically, journalism is experiencing its own personal recession, well-deserved at that. The economy will bounce back long before honest journalism again becomes the norm.
Posted by Jerry Pomeroy in Economics, Fraud Watch, Media