New from the Business & Media Institute
Media Myths: Hit Job
Networks Emphasize Layoffs in a Year of 2
Million New Jobs
A little more than half of the network stories on employment in 2005 were
bad news. Layoffs, outsourcing, cutbacks. While the nation experienced
hardships from Hurricane Katrinas devastation and the auto industrys
trials, the overall picture of U.S. employment was a very positive one.
The unemployment rate dropped to 4.9 percent, while the country enjoyed
the latest in a 31-month streak of job growth. But watching the evening
news, youd never know it, as the Business & Media Institutes latest Media Myth
reveals.
Commentary: Networks Do a Poor Job with Unemployment
Coverage
When you look out your window, do you see soup lines? The
networks sure did when they were reporting on employment in 2005. Its
time we demanded a new deal from journalists who take every opportunity to
hype layoffs at the expense of millions of new jobs.
CNN Spends 2005 Telling People Theyre Going Backwards
Broadcast journalists, especially on CNN, have been obsessed with the
relationship between wages and inflation. Trouble is, they havent been
informing the public accurately. Theyve declared inflation is killing
the middle class. But when it comes to wages and inflation, the current
pattern since 2001 follows the same as previous economic recoveries, a
fact that was lost on CNN. A little context could end the scaremongering.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of
business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news
tips to staff writer
Ken Shepherd.
This week: BusinessWeek on how outsourcing benefits the
economy; Lou Dobbs takes erroneous outrage on the road; CNN on Hollywood
stars vs. Wall Street execs.
Also from BMI:
Newscasts Overlook Fords Costly Severance Programs
CNNs Dobbs Blames Free Trade, Non-Union Labor for Fords Woes
Research, News & Commentary
Wages
Commentary: Detailing how minimum wage hikes actually increase the number of people employed below the minimum wage line, Alan Reynolds argues that moralizing can easily substitute for economics among elitists who dont really care how many more people they shove into the ranks of those paid less than some local or national minimum.
Investing/Retirement
Analysis: A person who spends $300 a month on the lottery could instead earn nearly half a million dollars in the stock market $433,208 more than he would win playing the lottery, say the authors of a new study on how Lottery Taxes Divert Income from Retirement Savings.
Government
Commentary: Its time to repeal the toilet mandate. Highlighting an example of wasteful government regulation, Andrew Ferguson calls for the elimination of a federal regulation limiting toilet tank capacity to 1.6 gallons. Its a vain attempt to promote water conservation, and new toilets designed to fit the standard often require several flushes to do the same job an ol 3.5-gallon toilet did with one pull of the lever.
Commentary: Noting that the Postal Rate Commission has not prohibited a rate increase since the early 1970s, Americans for Tax Reforms Grover Norquist suggests the U.S. Postal Service should look at cutting its size, not raising postal rates.
Health Care
Commentary: In the face of the double-whammy of the worlds most expensive health care system and a rapidly aging society, AEIs Kevin Hassett argues ahead of President Bushs Jan. 31 State of the Union Address that Its Time to Face Up to the U.S. Medicare Crisis.
Commentary: Citing press accounts that President Bush will promote health savings accounts in his upcoming State of the Union, Catos Daily Dispatch blog offers brief analysis, linking back to previous studies Cato has done on health care reform.
