The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
USA Today shows a town eager for a nuclear plant; ABC, NBC gun-shy on calling transit strike illegal; Lou Dobbs’s deficit of economic knowledge widens.

Dec. 21, 2005

     USA Today reported on a town that wants a nuclear reactor in its backyard, while ABC and NBC’s morning shows avoided the New York transit strike’s illegality like a third rail, and CNN’s Lou Dobbs ends the year in the Ugly column for his ever-widening deficit of economic reason.

The Good
     USA Today recently showcased an Alabama town eager for nukes – nuclear energy, that is. Larry Copeland’s page 3A story in the December 19 paper noted support among residents in the town of Scottsboro for a planned nuclear power plant. “Scottsboro is one of several communities around the USA that are wooing utility companies that build nuclear plants, eager to tap the economic benefits of an industry attempting a comeback,” Copeland wrote. “Surging demand for electricity, concerns about air pollution and the Bush administration’s push to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil,” were behind renewed national interest in nuclear energy, noted Copeland.

The Bad
     Strikes and walkouts by public employees in the state of New York have been illegal since the state’s Taylor Law went into effect in 1967, but the December 20 editions of both “Good Morning America” and “Today” failed to report that. Those morning programs chose instead to air sound bites of city officials, in effect downplaying the strike’s illegality as just one side of the story rather than an objective fact. In addition, the broadcast morning shows missed the train by failing to report the high average salary and generous benefits unionized workers currently receive compared to the salary of the average New York worker inconvenienced by the transit strike.

The Ugly
     CNN’s Lou Dobbs took his year-end bow in the Ugly column for his ever-widening deficit of economic knowledge. “How can you say that all of this is so good for the United States when we’ve run 29 consecutive years of trade deficits?” Dobbs asked on his December 14 program, seeking to throw cold water on the economy’s hot economic growth in 2005. Answering Dobbs’s rhetorical question, theBusiness & Media Institute documented benefits of the trade deficit, including low inflation, increased productivity, a strong manufacturing sector, and foreign reinvestment in America’s economy.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to staff writer Ken Shepherd at kshepherd@mediaresearch.org.