MMMM # 22 - Economic$

There are exceptions, but most reporters (myself included) know very little about economics. That's why you see or read stories in which a million dollars expenditure by a municipality will be treated with huge importance, even though it may represent a tiny percentage of the municipality's total spending. That's because the reporter likely doesn't have a clue how much the government involved spends annually. "A Million Dollars!" they'll shout (on TV), as though they've just won a game show. It kinda makes a difference if the municipality is Opp or Jefferson County (though these days it would be big news if Jefco found that much to spend on something). I wonder if the less money the reporter makes, the more impressed he or she will be with "big" spending. I try to disclose my economic ignorance in any interview in which decimal points reach out to more than a few digits, or in which the math contains phrases and words I can't fully define. I usually just hope I'm following closely enough to ask good questions. Look, if we reporters could handle higher math, we'd be in jobs with better pay! One network anchor introduced a report Friday with the comment "With the specter of a recession hanging..." hanging? We've been told the world economy is falling apart and we're not even in a recession? Google "recession" in the news category...you'll find Sweden, Germany and Japan are all in a recession, but somehow The good old U.S.A., ground zero for the Wall Street collapse, is till facing the specter of a recession. See...reporters really don't understand economics. * [NOTED: Maureen Dowd's column in Saturday's NY Times discusses the economics of journalism...including the outsourcing of some reporter's jobs to India.] [* NOTED: During the day today the big story was a decision that we ARE in a recession after all!] [QUOTED: "The average American family hasn't time for television. People must sit and keep their eyes glued on a screen." • New York Times, 1939] [The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog]