Scott Whitlock @ Newsbusters:
Economic growth grew at an incredibly sluggish 1.3 percent in the second quarter, revised down from 1.7 percent. According to business writer Jim Pethokoukis, this is “dangerously slow.” However, NBC skipped the bad news for Barack Obama entirely. ABC allowed it a mere 21 seconds. CBS was the only network to allow the story a full report.
Although Nightly News correspondent Chuck Todd couldn’t find time to mention the scant amount of growth, he did hype the fact that the President is trying “a new line.” Todd then played a clip of the President calling “for a new economic patriotism.” The journalist helpfully parroted that the President’s “idea of economic patriotism includes tax hikes on the wealthy and more government spending on infrastructure.”
The only coverage ABC gave the subject came when World News’ David Muir played a brief clip of Mitt Romney railing, “1.3 percent versus Russia at 4 percent. China at seven to eight percent. We’re at 1.3 percent. This is unacceptable.” This amounted to 21 seconds.
CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley offered the most straight forward, comprehensive look. Pelley opened the program by declaring, “It turns out the economy is growing even more slowly than we thought.”
He added, “The government told us that U.S. growth in the second quarter was an anemic 1.7 percent, but today, the Commerce Department put out a new estimate showing us it was even less than that, just 1.3 percent.”
Blogging at the American Enterprise Institute, Pethokoukis explained the ramifications:
Bottom line: Growth the past two quarters has averaged about 1.6%. Not only does this mean the economy is growing more slowly than last year’s 1.8%, it is also slow enough to signal about a 50% chance of a recession within a year. And the third quarter also looks weak.
None of the morning shows (NBC’s Today, ABC’s Good Morning America or CBS’s This Morning) on Friday covered the news. The Evening News segment clocked in at three minutes and 16 seconds.
