Media Bias

The article was headlined with "STRONG JOB DATA MAY SIGNAL TURNING POINT". The reaction was that there must have been economic information released in addition to the now well published July unemployment drop of 9.5% to 9.4% . However, this initial reaction was absolutely wrong and the headline was nothing more than a very poor attempt to give praise to Obama's economic efforts rather than report the truth.

The cold hard fact is that 247,000 more Americans lost their jobs and, as several economists stated, the unemployment figure has gone down "not because employment rose but because the labor force fell." In July fewer people were in the federally defined unemployed work force so the data reflects a mathematical drop in unemployment and not an increase in jobs. Obama supporters found themselves in a "Catch 22" because "the most comprehensive measure of underemployment" also showed an improvement by dropping from 16.5% to 16.3% but to acknowledge this more accurate approach [lumping together the unemployed and the part-time employed looking for a full-time job and those who are no longer making any effort to find employment] the Obama Administration would have to agree to a significantly higher calculation of the un/underemployment. This would make him look worst and further drop his support numbers. That just is not going to happen.

The White House itself has again cautioned that even with the July figures and its method of calculating unemployment, that figure could soon reach 10% and may continue to rise until it peaks at 10.6%. If all goes well, it continues, not be until 2013 will unemployment drop to 5%, which is a level consistent with the concept of a strong economy.

The news media, in addition to being exceptionally pro-Obama, also believes that the American general public is lazy, uninformed and stupid. If any effort is going to be exerted by their fellow Americans to stay informed on national economic affairs, these journalists think, then that act will be limited to scanning the headlines. So the media plants a bogus headline totally misstating the truth hoping that a false seed of hope has been planted which will blossom into support for Obama.

There is no "strong job data" and no "turning point" has been signaled. The only message is the oft repeated refrain that you just cannot trust anything the news media reports.