(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
What if the economy roared back but no one knew about it?
That could happen given the scant attention the broadcast networks
offered Thursday night to the news of a strong third quarter Gross
Domestic Product annual growth rate of 3.1 percent, more than
double the rate in the second quarter.
NBC's Tom Brokaw, a night after lamenting poor consumer
confidence, ignored the number on the NBC Nightly News. ABC's
Peter Jennings, two nights after highlighting how consumer
confidence “is at a nine-year low,” treated the good GDP number as
nothing new or different: “The economy is still growing.”
Only CBS's Dan Rather, about 20 minutes into the October 31
CBS Evening News and just before another story marveling at how
the poor economy is not a bigger campaign issue, gave a brief yet
complete rundown of the GDP trend:
“A report out today says the struggling U.S. economy is
showing some signs of renewed strength in the third quarter of
this year. It was growing at an annual rate of 3.1 percent, that's
a considerable improvement over the 1.3 percent in the second
quarter.”
On Tuesday's World News Tonight, Jennings intoned: “In the
national briefing tonight, consumer confidence at a nine-year low,
down for the fifth straight month. Economists say a lot of people
are worried about the weak job market and the threat of war with
Iraq. Well, it is exactly a week before election day, and control
of the House of Representatives and the Senate is very much at
stake. As it turns out, when we look at all sorts of races all
over the country, it is hard to grasp one dominant issue,
including, to many people's surprise, very much, the economy.
ABC's Betsy Stark is here to explain us, explain to us why that
is.”
But on Thursday's World News Tonight Jennings didn't see the
new number as contradicting his gloomy outlook: “The economy is
still growing. The Gross Domestic Product, considered the broadest
measure of economic growth, was up three percent in the third
quarter of the year.”
No consideration, of course, about how maybe that demonstrates
people aren't so worried about the threat of war with Iraq.
On Thursday night, NBC's Brokaw simply ignored the new upbeat
GDP number, but the night before, on the October 30 NBC Nightly
News, Brokaw showcased the impact of low consumer confidence: “The
consumer confidence numbers out this week showing consumer
sentiment at its lowest level in nine years. That has retailers
understandably worried about the coming holiday season. They are
already taking unusual measures to get people to buy more. Here's
NBC's Anne Thompson.”
