Housing prices rose in March at the highest annual level since April 2006. This would normally be a sign of good economic news, especially taken together with the soaring stock market. But if you watch cable news, you might not have heard about it. The big three cable news outlets spent a total of 9 minutes and 32 seconds discussing the good news, according to Media Matters.
A Media Matters analysis showed, “In the day following the release of the Case-Shiller housing index report, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC spent a total of 9 minutes and 32 seconds discussing the increase in housing prices.” CNN led the coverage at 6 minutes and 17 seconds, with MSNBC trailing woefully behind at 1 minute and 57 seconds, leaving Fox to take last in line at 1 minute and 18 seconds. Seriously. MSNBC must be so proud to be on par with Fox News regarding failing to cover important economic data simply because it doesn’t sell like a hyped up scandal.
Consumer confidence is at a five year high, the highest level since February of 2008. While cable news was ignoring this rather important bit of news in favor of passing on Republican accusations masquerading as facts, investors celebrated Tuesday. Americans are feeling hopeful about the economy, and experts suggest that these indicators suggest growth could “accelerate” in the second half of 2013.
But what about those Benghazi emails Republicans leaked to the press after editing them to make the administration look bad and the scandal of the Obama administration going after a spy and in the process, catching a Fox reporter trying to force the administration into enacting Republican policies through collusion with said spy?
What about how the IRS is letting way too many conservative “nonprofits”, like the Heritage Foundation, operate tax free? What about True the Vote being found guilty of illegally aiding the GOP and then the press using them as an example of unfairly targeted conservative tea party groups, without mentioning their various legal and ethical problems? What about the number of conservative nonprofits outspending liberals by 34-1 and then wondering why they are being “targeted”? What about Karl Rove claiming his Crossroads is a nonprofit? Oh, these would be great scandals if the media weren’t busy reporting them as dictated for them by “Republican congressional aides”.
What about the press reporting on emails they claim to have read, when they did not. And why hasn’t the press asked Darrell Issa or John Boehner why they aren’t investigating the Republican who leaked the fake emails to the press?
Good economic news only matters to the average American, and therefore, it is of little interest to cable news. Give them some Obama dirty laundry, even if it’s manufactured, because our Sisters and Brothers have some “news” to sell.
Ray Bradbury obviously anticipated our deliberately mind-numbing cable news in his first novel, Fahrenheit 451. Bradbury insisted that Fahrenheit 451 was not about censorship or Big Brother, but rather “a depiction of a society willfully dumbing itself down by staring at screens, stuffing its collective consciousness with useless factoids, empty ideas and throwaway reality.”
The public would be better informed if cable news obsessed over Kim Kardashian’s lunch choices, because at least this way they would not be deliberately misled with empty ideas for profit.
Methods: The housing price surge in March was based on data from the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, released on May 28, 2013. Media Matters’ methodology included “searched internal TV archives and closed captioning as well as the TVEyes database for the terms “house, “housing,” “home,” and “Case-Shiller” from 8:00 a.m. on May 28 to 9:00 a.m. on May 29 for all Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC shows.”
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