Americans not falling for media's misleading coverage of economy
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
CONTACT
Jessica Levin (202) 772-8162
jlevin@mediamatters.org
Americans not falling for media's misleading coverage of economy
Poll shows majority of country rejects media narrative blaming Obama for economic crisis
Washington, D.C. -- In response to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showing that only 26 percent of the public blames the Obama administration for the country's economic situation, Media Matters for America released the following statement:
"This poll shows that despite what they are hearing from the media, the public overwhelmingly blames banks, business, and the Bush administration, not President Obama," said Erikka Knuti, a spokeswoman for Media Matters. "The media have repeatedly attached Obama's name to the economic crisis and all but erased the role of the previous administration from their coverage. The American people aren't falling for it."
The Washington Post/ABC News poll, released on March 31, asked respondents who they thought "deserve[d]" the most "blame" for "the country's economic situation." Results for who deserved a "great deal" or "good amount" of blame are as follows:
- 80 percent said banks and other financial institutions
- 80 percent said large business corporations
- 72 percent said consumers
- 70 percent said the Bush administration
- 26 percent said the Obama administration
Media Matters has documented how media figures, in their reporting of economic issues, have blamed Obama for the economic recession by disappearing the Bush administration's role and repeatedly referring to the "Obama recession."
"OBAMA RECESSION"
As Media Matters has documented, beginning in early November 2008, conservative media figures such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Dick Morris, and Hugh Hewitt have asserted that Obama is to blame for the decline of the stock market since the election and have promoted the myth of an "Obama recession." In fact, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007.
"OBAMA BEAR MARKET"
Media Matters has documented numerous media outlets declaring the existence of an "Obama bear market." In addition, MSNBC, in numerous reports, used misleading charts to suggest that the Dow only began dropping after Obama's election or inauguration, despite the fact that the Dow was on a downward trajectory months before the election, dropping 3,738 points from May 2, 2008, to November 3, 2008.
DISAPPEARANCE OF BUSH
The "Obama bear market" is just one example of a pattern -- documented by Media Matters -- of the media leaving out relevant information about the role of Bush-era policies in discussing the current state of the economy. For example, in a March 8 Associated Press "analysis," Tom Raum suggested that Obama is to blame for job losses since he took office and even before he did so -- an argument rejected even by conservative CNBC host and National Review Online economics editor Larry Kudlow.
For more information on the media's coverage of the economic crisis, visit www.financialmediamatters.org.
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Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Media Matters for America is the first organization to systematically monitor the media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. For more information, visit www.mediamatters.org.
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What about the weekly disinformation that since 2006 spews out of Bill Moyers's show every week.
His Erroneous premise is that the Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. A PURE AND IGNORANT LIE.
He then has more Republican guests (though moderate) who are still partisan and inevitablly there will be the slap against the Democrats. At moments Bill has actually giggled before critisizing the Republicans. He uses Republican Talking Points effectively trashing the Government. And has repeatedly shown footage of hearings (ALL OF WHICH I HAVE SEEN LIVE) in which the most Radical right wing menbers of congress make erroneous claims that Bill Backs.
One week he claimed that "People have said" which he concurred with and who the "people" were complete complete wwith footage of them were Larry Cudlow and Luara Ingram. Never once saying who they are.
Three weeks ago he had a black member of the Manahattan Institute on where they were both trashing the Attorney General for his comment that we are a nation of cowards. And while he showed footage of the remarks, in a usual right wing media he failed to show the POINT of the Attorney General's comments where he sited the fact that every Sunday when people are in church we are a segrigated country. Never once was there mention that only 43% of white people voted for Obama.
This week the guest claimed that Geithner was a "Regulator." Bill then showed Geithner claiming that he is not a regulator which the guest insisted he was with the imlication being that Geithner is a liar. And once again "proved" that the Democrats are as bad as the Republicans. Which is Big time Malarkey.
And the REAL FACT is that the Regulators are organizations like: The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). The Commodities Futures Comission (CFTC) and the FTC. Giethner has never been member of these Agencies.
Furthermore, there is continual comments that in the 90s Democrats did not want regulations. This is a bold faced lie.
So what is going on with Moyers. Are the College Republicans (from the Young America's Foundation who are proud to have 900 of their graduates embedded in Main Stream and Public Media...are they doing Moyer's Research or is there a COINTENLPRO situation going on where the information feeding the left is coming from the right wing? Sure seems like it.'
'And may of the guests on the show who speak about the economy barely seem to know what they are talking about ....and have certainly not paid any attention to all the congressional hearings. Becuase if they had they would not make the kinds of remarks they do: i,e. this administration expressed their intention to regulate hedge funds yet the "expert" last week was entirely oblivious to that.
Furthermore, none of these guest ever make a distinction between the last administration and this one. Where the last administration did the opposite of what congress stipulated when they gave them the first half the the tarp money.
The dumming down of America is almost as bad on the left as is is on the right. We say that when the Nation used 1990s Radical Right Wing Republican jargon when refering to Hillary and so much more.'
After 8 years of around the clock C-SPAN and CNBC....This stuff is like the nightmare of invation of the body snatchers,,,.