Economist on the Media and Recession

For quite some time I have been telling readers of this blog and listeners of my show that the media has wanted a recession. Furthermore, the media has reported an economy in decline while it reflected numbers reminiscent of a strong economy. Now a serious leader in academia has recently validated this assessment.

Economist John Lott, Jr. of the University of Maryland was cited on Fox and Friends as quantifying the distorted views purported by the media about the economy. In an article by Lott on FoxNews.com, the scholar noted that:

A Nexis search on news stories during the three-month period from July 2000 through September 2000 using the keywords “economy recession US” produces 1,388. By contrast, the same search over just the last month finds 3,166. Or, even more telling, take the three months from July through September last year, when the GDP was growing at a phenomenal 4.9 percent. The same type of Google search shows 2,475 news stories.

Over 78 percent more negative news stories discussed a recession when the economy under a Republican was soaring than occurred under a Democrat when the economy was shrinking.
A little perspective on the economy would be helpful. The average unemployment rate during President Clinton was 5.2 percent. The average under President George W. Bush is just slightly below 5.2. The current unemployment rate is 4.8 percent, almost half a percentage point lower than these averages.

Therefore the economy was seen as healthy and vibrant under Clinton with higher unemployment than it is today under Bush at level that is .4 percent lower. The comparison doesn't stop with unemployment, however:

The average inflation rate under Clinton was 2.6 percent, under Bush it is 2.7 percent. Indeed, one has to go back to the Kennedy administration to find a lower average rate. True the inflation rate over the last year has gone up to 4 percent, but that is still lower than the average inflation rate under all the presidents from Nixon through Bush’s father.

Yet, again, the news tends to describe the economic situation in this economy as dire and you would think we were at the brink of economic ruin. Lott goes on to quantify other areas.

The issue I would love to see discussed more thoroughly are the reasons why this is happening. All I can do is speculate, based on approximately two decades of being involved with the media on several levels, but the causes could include:

* The liberal bias in the media. According to the Pew Research Center, there are five liberals for every one conservative in the media. This would certainly lead to the media giving Conservatives a negative spin.

* I personally believe that the media benefits from a bad economy. Much of what we have seen and heard has reflected "wishful" thinking. Why? When the economy is hot, businesses simply don't need as much advertising. A soft economy makes businesses more inclined to invest in marketing.

* Finally, bad news equals big ratings. There is a belief that if all news was good news, people would not be nearly as interested in watching TV, listening on the radio, or reading stories.

I'm impressed with Lott's work and am eager to find more who contribute to this debate.

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Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

New Book Helps Parents to Raise Americans

I haven't read this book yet, but I'm requesting it today for review. It addresses a concern that I have had for quite some time, which is our institutional disdain for the things that made America great. One of the more powerful and pervasive of such institutions is the news media, which has been a frequent theme in this blog.

The book is entitled How to Raise an American (by Myrna Blyth and Chriss Winston) and it is filled with activities, fun facts, and other useful information to help our children love their country. This is, of course, one of the objectives of public school, in my opinion, but they seem to be failing on this front in many respects.

A great example of this was expressed by one of the book’s authors, Myrna Blyth, who pointed out in an interview on Fox & Friends that in a typical US history textbook there are only 80 references to America’s first walk on the moon verses nearly 1,000 on the Iran-Contra scandal. Young Americans are being hammered on what’s wrong with our country, but hearing very little about one of the greatest achievements of all mankind.

Again, I haven’t read this book, but I have been long concerned about the lack of such quality information in the classroom. If they are not going to get it there, we need to help them get it at home. I intend to read the book and give you my grade on it at a later date. Meanwhile, you might want to begin doing a little research on it yourself. Our children could certainly use our help in this matter.