The Absurd Report

Wall Street neared “meltdown” following the Bear Stearns debacle, according to all three broadcast TV news shows. The recent cover of BusinessWeek rang with the headline “Waking Up To The Recession,” complete with alarm clock.

And journalists made near-daily comparisons to the worst economic event in American history — the Great Depression.

Major downturns aren’t just caused by economic circumstances anymore. The news media will have done their best to help it along with years of negativity.

They’ve succeeded in part already. The March 18 USA Today reported a Gallup poll showing that 59% of Americans think a depression “lasting several years” is “likely,” and 79% are worried about the possibility.

Depression. That word should apply to anyone watching the media struggle to report on the U.S. economy. It’s a comparison the three broadcast networks have used more than two dozen times already in 2008. Gallup simply heard people parrot what they were told.

It’s a darker spin on a familiar theme. Since the economic recovery took hold in August 2003, journalists have warned of an impending and ominous recession. They were wrong in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. If they finally get it right, it’s almost by accident. At the same time, they underreported good news, hyped bad news and have done everything they could to undermine consumer confidence.

Confidence was a key issue with the demise of Bear Stearns. Experts said investors had “lost confidence” in the firm. As Michael Darda of MKM Partners explained to NBC on March 14, we are coping with “the fear, with the crisis of confidence in credit.”

It’s no wonder. Investors have endured four years of TV reporters ignoring the recovery.