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Economic indicators in President Donald Trump’s first term presented hard facts for a lot of positive reporting before the COVID pandemic lockdowns, but that’s not what the broadcast networks presented to America.
Thirty-one Dow Jones records were set between January 1, 2017 and January, 26, 2018. Overall, in 2017, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 25%. The networks routinely ignored the records. But when the market went down in that year, they pounced. NBC’s Lester Holt warned “Is the so-called Trump bump over?”
So, it’s not surprising that in the current tariff turbulence, the broadcast networks are accentuating the negative. On April 4, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the economy added a stronger-than-expected 228,000 jobs in March. The “CBS Evening News” didn’t report it. ABC’s “World News Tonight” gave it 14 seconds. On “NBC Nightly News,” anchorman Lester Holt dramatically demonstrated the commitment to negative spin, given the bad day on the stock market.
“The breathtaking fall stripping $5 trillion in wealth from U.S. markets in just two days. Squeezing personal savings, leaving companies scrambling to adjust. Many signaling they will have to raise consumer prices on their imported products, big and small,” he warned. “Not even a surprisingly strong jobs report – 228,000 jobs added in March – was enough to stem today’s market slide.”
Behind Holt, a graphic screamed: “Markets Lose $5 Trillion+ In Trump Tariff Meltdown.”
Nobody thinks a dark day on the stock market isn’t headline news. But the anti-Trump energy is always present. On April 9, when stocks skyrocketed back after President Trump put a 90-day pause on new tariffs (except for China), NBC anchor Tom Llamas reported the good news, but then hit the brakes. “There are big questions hanging all over this,” he said.
Business correspondent Christine Romans acknowledged the gains, adding: “But consumers still facing higher prices on steep tariffs with China and small businesses wondering where things will stand in 90 days.” Llamas then turned to playing up the China angle: “That new 125% tariff on China is expected to make everything from clothing to electronics to furniture even more expensive here in the U.S. Brian Cheung now on the prices you may be soon paying.”
These same networks constantly downplayed inflation under Biden. In November of 2021, Stephanie Ruhle went on “Sunday Today” and claimed we could handle higher prices. “The dirty little secret here….while nobody likes to pay more, on average we have the money to do so. Household savings hit a record high over the pandemic. We didn’t have anywhere to go out and spend….So, we need to put all of this in perspective.”
Today, they are playing up the prospects of inflated prices in the future. Not only that, but they’re also not interested in the actual inflation news in the present.
On April 10, the consumer price index actually declined 0.1 percent, for a year-over-year inflation rate of 2.4 percent. Once again, on the nightly newscasts, it received short shrift. On NBC, Christine Romans gave it eight seconds: “That bright spot, consumer prices fell in March from the month before, bringing the inflation rate to 2.4 percent.” That’s eight seconds in a doom-and-gloom report that aired for two minutes and 44 seconds.
On CBS, anchor John Dickerson mentioned in passing: “Falling gasoline prices are helping to bring inflation down. The government reported today that consumer prices fell a tenth of a percent in March.” That was almost nine seconds out of CBS pushing five minutes of tariff anxiety.
ABC skipped it entirely. They found time to report that China was restricting the importation of American movies – bad news for their Disney overlords – but not the current inflation rate.
The “PBS News Hour” added insult to injury, preceding 15 words on the inflation statistic with economic mockery from Team Biden: “On CNN, former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said President Trump took a wrecking ball to the economy.” Yellen claimed “This is the worst self-inflicted wound that I have ever seen an administration impose.”
PBS reporter John Yang added, “The consumer price index data was collected before the president’s toughest tariffs. But economists warn that higher prices as a result of the tariffs could emerge in a matter of months.” They always display a big “But.”
When it comes to Trump, on any issue, the broadcast network “news” shows seem designed to push a 100-percent negative narrative – or if they manage ten seconds of good news, it’s 95 percent negative. This illustrates how they could be denounced as making “fake news” – the facts may be accurate, but the spin makes it look like a Democrat campaign commercial instead of straight-ahead journalism.
The post BROADCAST BIAS: Networks go full negative spin over tariff turbulence, steer clear of good economic news appeared first on Fox News.
