How the US media covered the Great Recession
Saturday, 8 May 2010
A Z M Anas
Back from USA
Economic stories including the Great Recession hogged the American media spotlight last year as news organisations raced to cover banking bailout and stimulus plans, the price tag of which totalled US$ 780 billion, according to a new study.
The study titled covering the Great recession by Pew Research, a think tank, has found that 76 per cent of the news was generated pivoting two U.S. cities, with New York alone taking the biggest pie being the epicenter of the global crisis.
"It was a major paradigm shift. Economic reporting actually outshined the coverage on Iraq or Afghanistan," Amy Mitchell, deputy director at the project for excellence in journalism of Pew Research, said.
"Economic stories, in fact, started gaining momentum since July 2007 when 5 per cent drop in home sales was reported. Then came the jump in inflation in November. The trend peaked with the news of slowdown in GDP in January 2008, raising recession concerns," she told reporters over a lunch at National Press Club in Washington.
Ms. Mitchell revealed the findings with reporters from 20 countries who were visiting the US on a reporting programme, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Between February 1 and August 31, 2009, the journalist-turned-researcher said of the economic storylines, bailout news (16 per cent) dominated the tally, followed by economic recovery package (15 per cent) and auto industry fiasco (10 per cent).
Other major economic and business stories linked to the global crisis included unemployment, housing, effect on state and budget deficit.
In terms of dateline, Washington DC secured the second position after New York with 32 per cent stories being generated in the American capital city, while Atlanta was the distant third with only 3 per cent of the total coverage.
Los Angeles and Detroit had secured 2 per cent share each, while other US cities accounted for 14 per cent, according to the study.
In terms of sources in economic coverage, business topped the list, president and federal agency come next.
Unlike general news outlets, the study said, financial news organisations were not in the red, rather managed to log profits in 2009. CNBC, owned by General Electric, made a healthy US$ 369 billion in profits and Bloomberg TV $23 million.
However, new entrant Fox Business Network ran up a loss of $ 32 million and is expected to breakeven in 2011.
The findings came in stark contrast with the general trend in the news media industry where plummeting ad revenues put it on a turbulent path.
According to the study, total U.S. ad spending fell 12.9 per cent for the year, the sharpest drop since the Great Depression, although most news sectors saw declines close to double that.
The Pew Research said newspaper staffs continued to shrink in 2009, with 5,900 more full-time newsroom jobs were axed by the year's end.
Roughly one-third of the newsroom jobs in American print media industry in 2001 are now gone, the study said.
Sadly, though, newsmen are today the fast-vanishing species in the United States-a trend that shocked this reporter who met a bevy of illustrious journalists who switched over to either teaching or journalism research.
Leonard Downie Jr., the famed Washington Post executive editor, is no longer with the Post. The newsroom veteran, who oversaw the Post's team that uncovered the historic Watergate scam leading to the resign of president Nixon, has left the profession after his flirting with the industry for more than 45-years.
His once colleague, Phillip Bennet, and Retha Hill, Leslie Wayne, of New York Times, jumped on teaching and research, severing the ties with the American media industry for decades.
Retha Hill who is now shepherding a small team of media innovators at Arizona State University tried to solace herself: My role is to prepare future journalists who cane be entrepreneurs as well. "At least they can compensate the agony of job loss with their entrepreneurial skill," she says.
"Of course, it's a gloomy prospect. Still, readers are willing to pay for quality economic news," Ms. Mitchell said, citing the example of London-based Economist's readership and profits, both remain unhurt.
But, she said, readers of Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek are going down.
Back from USA
Economic stories including the Great Recession hogged the American media spotlight last year as news organisations raced to cover banking bailout and stimulus plans, the price tag of which totalled US$ 780 billion, according to a new study.
The study titled covering the Great recession by Pew Research, a think tank, has found that 76 per cent of the news was generated pivoting two U.S. cities, with New York alone taking the biggest pie being the epicenter of the global crisis.
"It was a major paradigm shift. Economic reporting actually outshined the coverage on Iraq or Afghanistan," Amy Mitchell, deputy director at the project for excellence in journalism of Pew Research, said.
"Economic stories, in fact, started gaining momentum since July 2007 when 5 per cent drop in home sales was reported. Then came the jump in inflation in November. The trend peaked with the news of slowdown in GDP in January 2008, raising recession concerns," she told reporters over a lunch at National Press Club in Washington.
Ms. Mitchell revealed the findings with reporters from 20 countries who were visiting the US on a reporting programme, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.
Between February 1 and August 31, 2009, the journalist-turned-researcher said of the economic storylines, bailout news (16 per cent) dominated the tally, followed by economic recovery package (15 per cent) and auto industry fiasco (10 per cent).
Other major economic and business stories linked to the global crisis included unemployment, housing, effect on state and budget deficit.
In terms of dateline, Washington DC secured the second position after New York with 32 per cent stories being generated in the American capital city, while Atlanta was the distant third with only 3 per cent of the total coverage.
Los Angeles and Detroit had secured 2 per cent share each, while other US cities accounted for 14 per cent, according to the study.
In terms of sources in economic coverage, business topped the list, president and federal agency come next.
Unlike general news outlets, the study said, financial news organisations were not in the red, rather managed to log profits in 2009. CNBC, owned by General Electric, made a healthy US$ 369 billion in profits and Bloomberg TV $23 million.
However, new entrant Fox Business Network ran up a loss of $ 32 million and is expected to breakeven in 2011.
The findings came in stark contrast with the general trend in the news media industry where plummeting ad revenues put it on a turbulent path.
According to the study, total U.S. ad spending fell 12.9 per cent for the year, the sharpest drop since the Great Depression, although most news sectors saw declines close to double that.
The Pew Research said newspaper staffs continued to shrink in 2009, with 5,900 more full-time newsroom jobs were axed by the year's end.
Roughly one-third of the newsroom jobs in American print media industry in 2001 are now gone, the study said.
Sadly, though, newsmen are today the fast-vanishing species in the United States-a trend that shocked this reporter who met a bevy of illustrious journalists who switched over to either teaching or journalism research.
Leonard Downie Jr., the famed Washington Post executive editor, is no longer with the Post. The newsroom veteran, who oversaw the Post's team that uncovered the historic Watergate scam leading to the resign of president Nixon, has left the profession after his flirting with the industry for more than 45-years.
His once colleague, Phillip Bennet, and Retha Hill, Leslie Wayne, of New York Times, jumped on teaching and research, severing the ties with the American media industry for decades.
Retha Hill who is now shepherding a small team of media innovators at Arizona State University tried to solace herself: My role is to prepare future journalists who cane be entrepreneurs as well. "At least they can compensate the agony of job loss with their entrepreneurial skill," she says.
"Of course, it's a gloomy prospect. Still, readers are willing to pay for quality economic news," Ms. Mitchell said, citing the example of London-based Economist's readership and profits, both remain unhurt.
But, she said, readers of Forbes, Fortune and BusinessWeek are going down.