Press Release
Monday, February 6, 2006 | CONTACT: Tim Scheiderer (703) 683-5004

THE LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT SINCE 9/11 UNREPORTED BY CBS, ABC
Jobless Rate Fell in January To Its Lowest Point Since July 2001.

Alexandria, VA—In an astounding example of bias by omission, both CBS and ABC ignored strong job gains and a drop in the nation’s unemployment rate, a disturbing trend recently exposed by the Business & Media Institute.

Unemployment fell to 4.7 percent, the lowest rate since July 2001. At the same time, 193,000 new jobs were gained in January, and another 81,000 were added to the totals for November and December. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow called it “terrific news,” but only NBC considered it newsworthy enough to warrant coverage in its weekend broadcast.

This is consistent with the findings of a year-longBusiness & Media Institute analysis of evening news employment coverage. That study, entitled “Hit Job,” found the news media focused on job losses more than half the time and downplayed gains during a year when 2 million new jobs were created. “CBS Evening News” was the worst of the three networks with the highest percentage of job loss stories and the lowest percentage of stories about job gains in 2005. In response to the Business & Media Institute analysis posted on the CBS Public Eye blog, reporter Anthony Mason acknowledged that “for the most part, broad based media has done a lousy job of explaining the economy to people.”

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell noted the irony of the CBS approach. “If the ‘CBS Evening News’ was as thorough as the network’s blog, then they would have actually covered this important news about the economy.”

Key Findings From “Hit Job”

• Slightly more than half of the stories focused on job losses, while only 35 percent of the stories addressed job gains.
• Revised job figures were ignored by the networks, missing nearly 300,000 jobs that were later added to the initial unemployment reports.

To schedule an interview with study author and Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow Dan Gainor, contact Colleen O’Boyle (ext. 122) or Tim Scheiderer (ext. 126) at (703) 683-5004. To view the study “Hit Job” visit www.businessandmedia.org