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NY Times Sounds Downbeat
on Upbeat Economy
Reporter Peters downplays strong GDP
revision and hunts for signs of slowdown.
By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
May 25, 2006
The New York Times saw signs of a slowing economy in a
May 25 Business section report. Just hours later, however, the
government revised its report for economic growth upward to 5.3
percent.
A cooling in new-home sales and durable
goods orders, “were seen as pointing to a softening economy,” Times
reporter
Jeremy Peters opened his article. While he noted that “investors’ attention” would
turn to the revised GDP figure for the first quarter, Peters
downplayed the report’s significance.
Following the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) release indicating a
5.3 percent economic growth rate,
Peters
again put a damper on the news in an online report: “The economy
grew at a faster rate in the first quarter than the government first
reported, but all indications still point to more moderate growth
for the remainder of the year.”
Other recent good news also escaped Peters’s notice.
Reuters
reported that the price index for personal consumption fell 4/10ths
from the last quarter of 2005 to 2 percent in the first quarter of
2006. Additionally, personal consumption spending “which fuels
two-thirds of national economic activity,” is at a strong 5.2
percent in the first quarter.
The Business & Media Institute has
previously documented how The New York Times carries
downbeat
coverage
of the economy.
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