The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Post exposes union leader’s tactics; BusinessWeek blogs on ‘Recession in America’; CNN speculates about Depression.

The Good:

A Leader, His Critics and a Union Divided

     One media outlet actually turned a critical eye to union leadership May 27 when The Washington Post reported on the tension between Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern, other labor leaders and union members.

     “According to his critics, Stern has made deals behind closed doors with corporations, keeping members in the dark about the trade-offs he has agreed to,” Anita Huslin reported.

     “He has quashed dissenting locals by merging them or effectively taking control of them by placing them into trusteeship, they say. He has also made it difficult for locals to file grievances, critics say, effective stifling the most powerful tool union members have: their voices,” Huslin wrote.

     Union leaders who take advantage of hard-working Americans often get a free pass, but perhaps now Stern knows what it’s like to be the CEO of a large, successful corporation, with a critical media eye trained on his every move.

The Bad:

BusinessWeek Dedicated Blog Exclusively to ‘Recession in America’

     As more and more economists expect the U.S. economy will not meet a technical definition of recession (two quarters of negative economic growth), BusinessWeek decided it’s a good time to launch a blog dedicated to recession.

     The “Recession in America” blog is dedicated to reporting on the “recession [that] is here (or will be soon),” as reported by BMI advisor Chris Roush on his blog Talkingbiznews.com.

      “In this blog, BusinessWeek reporter Tim Catts travels the country to uncover the stories of how individuals are coping with the downturn,” the blog states in its “about” section. In that case, maybe they should have called it “Slowdown in America.”

     But as BMI research has shown, members of the media eager to show a faltering economy have readily discarded the two-quarter definition of a recession in favor of a more flexible, ambiguous definition that includes slower than desired growth.

The Ugly:

CNN Pulls out ‘D-Word’ in Economy Speculation

     Just days before the Business & Media Institute released its latest Special Report, “The Great Media Depression,” CNN was adding its name to the long list of media outlets trying to tie the current economic slowdown to the Great Depression.

     “Have oil prices got us at a tipping point in the economy here?” anchor John Roberts asked May 23.

     Lakshman Achuthan, managing director for the Economic Cycle Research Institute, initially said, “The short answer is yes,” but later added he would be “backing off that answer.”

     Instead, he said, if oil hits $150 a barrel, “we start talking about something worse than a mild recession. Another leg down, and that I think is very, very worrisome.”

     But as CNN and scores of other members of the media failed to point out in their misguided attempts to tie current conditions to the Great Depression, the United States isn’t even in a recession, much less a more severe period.

     In the first quarter of 2008 the economy grew at .06 percent – small yet positive growth.

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 Jeff Poor at jpoor@mediaresearch.org.