Every time new job numbers come out there is a negative spin on them. Here is a quote from NBC News that shows my point, “adding just 112,000 new jobs overall in November. It was the weakest gain in five months and about half of what economists had forecast”. Why is this description in the opening paragraph of the story? Why can’t reporters put a positive spin on this and not there normal doom and glum that is ever present in the media. In the same story just further down the page it points out the unemployment rate went down again.
Even though job growth was not what was predicted, any new jobs created is a good thing.
4 comments:
Many try to blame the media of being to liberal, or anti-Bush. The biggest issue is objectivity, reporters aren't supposed to be to one sided as to whether something is good or bad. Isn't it interesting that something needs a negitive spin when a Republican is in the White House, and a positive spin when a Democrat is in the White House.
It is unfortunate that there are so many negative things going on in the world that need reporting, but we as a public should be aware of them. I don't think it matters if a reporter puts a so called "negative" spin on the story. Most Americans can read between the lines and decipher what they will from the story.
I find this sort of statement pretty annoying, because the thinking is so muddy. Bad news does sell though, and maybe they are trained to write in this way.
But, c'mon, what is the point of saying "weakest gain"? Weak is modifying gain, so it is moving a positive number closer to zero. Does that mean they are going to talk about a "strongest loss" sometime in the future? I don't think they will (which shows bias), and I don't think they can effectively use that phrase anyway - it would have to mean a negative number that was closer to zero - hopefully showing that the original phrase was tortured to begin with.
Then there is the "weakest gain in five months". Isn't this saying that the news was good 2 months ago, 3 months ago, and 4 months ago? If it is saying that, then why not just say it?
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