The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
NPR goes free market?; If it’s economic news, it must be bad; Sheriff Dobbs in Sherwood Forest.

Nov. 9, 2005

     National Public Radio promoting the free market? Will wonders never cease? OK, it was Youth Radio, but it was still broadcast on NPR, so maybe there’s hope. But there’s less hope for how the major media cover important economic news, and that lack of hope is causing too many Americans to believe the negative hype. Lastly, we have more from CNN’s own anti-business program – “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

The Good
     Government-funded National Public Radio isn’t exactly the kind of place you’d expect to find celebration of the free market, so it was a pleasant surprise. Of course, it was really Youth Radio, broadcast on NPR November 7. High school reporter Jennifer Obakhume, a senior at Inglewood High School in Los Angeles, told listeners that underground junk food networks have cropped up in California schools – the direct result of new regulations by the food police. Obakhume reported that the school crackdowns have led to students reselling snacks and even having pizza delivered to school. And the children shall lead them…

To hear her story, click here.

The Bad
     Singling out one example of bad economic reporting is harder some weeks – not because there isn’t enough to choose from, but because there’s so much. Last week’s release of unemployment figures showed the ongoing media trend that all economic news is somehow bad. When job growth is high, it poses a risk for inflation. When it’s lower, it’s not high enough. Jobs, wages, unemployment rates and more are manipulated by the major media like The New York Times to paint a negative picture of the economy. As a result, more than one third of Americans think we are in a recession. They can’t all watch CBS, so the rest of the media must share some of the blame.

The Ugly
     It would be easy to give “Lou Dobbs Tonight” a permanent home in the Ugly column. One-sided attacks and opposition to the free market are commonplace on what purports to be a business show. This time, CNN’s Ranter-in-Chief Dobbs and his band of Merry Men and Women promoted a “windfall profits tax” on oil companies that Dobbs nicknamed a “Robin Hood Tax.” Dobbs set up a November 7 story asking if oil companies should have to give back some of those “giant profits to American citizens.” That’s what passes for balance on the network that claims to be “the most trusted name in news?”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to Director Dan Gainor at dgainor@mediaresearch.org.