The Media and the Economy
I’m not sure if it is just me, but I’ve noticed a subtle change in the tone of the media in regards to the economy over the past week.
For example, this morning’s Toronto Star featured an article about the inflation rate rising for the first time in months. The surprising aspect of the article is that is managed to spin this into a positive thing. It appears that the little inflation in the economy is a good thing, especially when compared to the harm deflation could do.
The media, especially print media (newspapers and magazines) have been seeing a decline in readership for several years, and have seen advertising revenues plunge as they compete with free online classified services like Craigslist and Kijijii. Throw in soaring distribution and newsprint costs and you have a situation where we’re starting to see print media move complete onto the Internet, or, as in the case of the Denver based Rocky Mountain News, close its doors without warning.
Through both the boom and bust times of this decade, the news media has tended to throw objectivity and sound reporting out the window in place of the print equivalent of the “sound bite”. Take this headline from the March 17 2009 edition of the Toronto Star;
Home sales plunge 31% in February
But analysts cautiously optimistic after smallest decline since October
Is this like sucking and blowing at the same time? The article, penned by The Star’s Tony Wong, goes on to say that market conditions have begun to improve across the country and there is some hope that the market will continue to improve in the spring.
But you’d never know that from the gloomy headline.
I suppose I’m naive, assuming the national media is more interested in reporting the news with a healthy smattering of objectivity, as opposed to scare-mongering the public with exaggerated headlines. Journalism in Canada isn’t quite as bad as Fox News is in the U.S., but it’s getting there.
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