Evolution Of A Media Spin-Job

Tom Blumer traces how a CNN story about a "surprise" jump in home construction starts -- good news, right? -- becomes a scare story about a 16-year-low in single-family home starts only by day's end.

Unbelievable. In order to spin the bad news out of the good, they had to avoid the main number -- new home starts, the one always cited -- and break it down into apartment starts and single-family starts, and then focus on the lagging component (single-family houses).

What began early in the day as a routine story about a modest but surprising increase in the number of new homes being built became, in The Deciders' hands, a Woe Betide Us tale of a long-term low in one component of fresh housing starts. They just needed a few hours to have their coffee to figure out a way to spin modestly good news into awful news.

But they did it.

I, uh... don't suppose... that when single-family housing starts zoom up, but total housing starts remain flat or fall, they'll, uhh, highlight single-family housing then, huh?

Not unless a Democrat is in the White House. The MSM has decided collectively it's unconstitutional for there to be any good economic news when a Republican is President.

Again, thanks to CJ.

Actually... I question The Deciders actually did any homework to find this hidden downer stat at all. More likely, the busy bees at the DNC or Media Matters found it, emailed it back to CNN, and lo and behold it's CNN's headline immediately.

posted by Ace at 08:15 PM

| Access Comments