I
wrote this note some time ago without posting it, but it is such a clear
example of media bias that it is worth posting, particular since PBS is widely
believed to be unbiased.
One
Friday evening, the PBS Lehrer News Hour reported bad economic news, holiday
retail sales were apparently down that year; consumers were not spending as
they had in past years. Things were pretty bad.
One
segment showed empty stores and aired gloomy interviews with shoppers. The
reporter told us of how depressed retail shopping for the holiday seemed to be.
The reporter gave some data for previous years but left us waiting for the
facts for this year's holiday spending, and with no data, the report left viewers
with the message of gloom.
Well,
there were numbers available for spending that holiday season that could have given
viewers an idea of just how bad that year was compared to the year before. Sales
the day after Thanksgiving were 3 percent higher, yes, higher, than last year reports George Will. Over the weekend, 172
million
people, shopping in stores and online, spent an average of $372.57, a 7.2
percent increase over a year ago, when 147 million shoppers spent $347.55 per
person.
Personal
consumption, which normally is 70
percent of economic activity apparently was
quit robust. How could the PBS report this economic
situation as gloomy news?
Did the PBS reporter know the overall strength of the economy, e.g., that more
than 93 percent of those who wanted work were employed, and more than 93
percent
of mortgages were being paid on time? Why exactly would the PBS
News Hour paint
such a gloomy picture enabled by omitting any obvious and actual
data when
those data were available and they directly contradicted
their report?
It
could be an evil plot against free markets or a grand conspiracy against the
right wing but more likely it is simply another example of how ideological
frameworks organize people’s thoughts to produce their observations and
explanations. ideological frameworks shape what people see and what they see
with. In this case the ideological framework clearly works to suppress some
facts, overemphasize other anecdotal information, and use these to present a
gloomy view of the economy.
